June 2007
Regeneration Areas as Business Opportunities
Across the UK, regeneration neighbourhoods are categorised according to their levels of deprivation. These indicators emphasise the weaknesses and deficiencies of these areas and say nothing about their assets and potential. This perspective merely reinforces the view of much of the private sector that these are areas to be avoided.
What is needed to refute these perceptions are new data tools that analyse the market and investment potential of a neighbourhood focusing upon the strengths and not just the deprivation indicators.
Over the last ten years, Social Compact a not-for-profit organisation based in Washington DC, has pioneered the use of an innovative information tool, Neighbourhood Market DrillDown, that has helped forge strong new partnerships and catalyse hundreds of millions of dollars worth of investment in regeneration communities across the U.S. Rocket Science has been working with Social Compact to explore the feasibility of importing and adapting this tool in the UK.
How can we change perceptions?
The DrillDown tool analyses the market and investment potential of a neighbourhood - focusing on its strengths and not its weaknesses.
Picture these two profiles:
Profile: Neighbourhood 1
- Twice the national rate of poverty
- Four times the national rate of overcrowding
- Ageing housing stock
- Above national average unemployment
- Perception of high crime
Profile: Neighbourhood 2
- Aggregate income of $1.1 billion
- $440 million spent on retail
- Median home sales value of $315,000
- Average household income of $55,400
- Falling property crime
Neighbourhood 1 is a 'no go' area for investors. Neighbourhood 2 in contrast is a market that is ripe for private sector investment.
In fact, these profiles describe the same neighbourhood, an underserved community of 35,000 people in the city of Oakland, Northern California.
The profile of Neighbourhood 1, highlighting the deficiencies, was generated using the same census data that cities use to leverage funding from central government. The profile of Neighbourhood 2 was developed using the DrillDown.
What tools are needed?
The DrillDown is specifically designed to identify community strengths and market assets in neighbourhood areas previously termed 'deprived'. Outdated census and modelled data are enhanced with current economic and demographic information.
The DrillDown's success across America has been three fold:
- Existing public and private data sources are used to generate information that tends to show that deprived neighbourhoods are far larger, safer and have greater buying power than previously thought;
- DrillDown data provides the platform for new arenas of engagement between the public, private and community sectors;
- DrillDown data has leveraged hundreds of millions of pounds in investment in some of the most deprived inner-city neighbourhoods.
"The strength of the Social Compact's methodology lies in its ability to "drill-down" deeper into a market's demographics and go beyond the analysis of the U.S. Census and other mainstream analyses. The resulting data provided the most accurate market analysis available on purchasing power, market growth and demographics in Harlem's neighbourhoods."
Gail Snowden, former MD, Community Investment Group, Fleet Bank
Piloting the DrillDown in the UK
Rocket Science is currently identifying appropriate neighbourhoods in the UK to pilot the DrillDown. As part of this we are assembling a leadership team comprising senior representatives from the public, private and community sectors to guide the DrillDown programme in the UK.
If you are interested in getting involved in this project, please contact Jamie Alderslade
How London's Olympic and Paralympic Games could be the most sustainable yet
Rocket Science has been working closely with Social Enterprise London (SEL) to identify and maximise opportunities for the growing number of social enterprises in the UK to contribute to making the London Olympic and Paralympic Games the best ever. Here SEL's Deputy Chief Executive, Sinéad McBrearty, imagines how the Games could deliver sustainable community benefits if . . .
- Community Food Enterprise worked as an advisor to the major catering contractors to ensure that safe, nutritious and culturally acceptable food permeates the Olympic menus. CFE is embedded in East London and its participation would offer a real opportunity to involve local people in the Games.
- London Community Recycling Network composted all the food waste generated by contractors during site preparation in the run up to 2012. Local agencies have a track record in delivering good quality resource and waste management services whilst providing basic work skills training to people with particularly high barriers to employment.
- Greenwich Leisure Ltd. managed the Olympic Aquatic Centre, delivering not just their proven and successful leisure services, but also directly impacting on health inequalities in the local community by achieving above average participation rates in fitness activities.
- Hackney Community Transport provided transport services for volunteers and staff during the Games.
- The Environment Trust, based in Tower Hamlets, used their Green Homes model to develop sustainable, affordable homes across the Lower Lea Valley, achieving social, economic and environmental objectives.
- CDS Co-operatives managed legacy assets, deploying their Community Mutual Home Ownership model. This model would enable the Olympic Village to make the transition from athlete accommodation to affordable housing with a guaranteed asset lock.
- All tea, coffee and chocolate consumed during the 2012 Games came from Fairtrade providers Café Direct and Divine Chocolate. Commodity producers would be guaranteed a stable price for their goods, sharing in the benefits of the London Games.
- Newco Products supplied 10% of the windows, doors and kitchens for the Olympic village. The company employs able bodied and disabled staff on a 50:50 basis and their reputation as a high quality manufacturer is well-deserved.
- The Workers' Beer Company worked with the major catering contractor to adapt their summer festival volunteer model - the one that runs the beer tents for Glastonbury - to ensure that high-quality training is delivered to volunteer base, providing meaningful skills to individual participants.
- Calverts, a graphic design co-operative in East London, partnered with a larger agency to ensure that the values of local communities are reflected in the 2012 Games' communications.
- Greenworks provided 're-made' furniture to the offices of LOCOG as it grows during 2007/8. This would make an immediate statement about the 2012 commitment to be the most sustainable Olympics ever...
If these things happened, the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games could genuinely claim to be the most sustainable Games ever - economically, socially and environmentally.
Download a full copy of the report . For more information on Rocket Science's work with SEL and other partners and stakeholders in the London 2012 project, please contact Andrew Carter or John Griffiths
Business Support Needs for Social Enterprise
We were commissioned by the Office for the Third Sector and the 9 English Regional Development Agencies (RDA) to carry out a mapping exercise of the business support services available to social enterprises across England. Our report highlights some excellent examples across the RDAs and some key recommendations for the sector.
We can highlight some lessons from practice about how business support for social enterprises can be improved, including how mainstream and specialist support services are beginning to emerge:
- There is an acknowledgement that some specialist support will still be required but this should be fully connected with Business Link ' s Information, Diagnostic and Brokerage (IDB) mainstreamed service;
- Mainstream business support should be sensitive to social enterprise needs, context and motivation;
- Promoting and sustaining social enterprise activity requires proactive specialist support for pre-start social enterprises;
- The capacity of the business support infrastructure to disaggregate the sector is vital to providing effective support;
- Finance for social enterprises. In particular the role of business support providers in assisting social enterprises to understand and use financial products to full advantage
The success of the social enterprise agenda is reliant upon social enterprises not just meeting needs, but doing this whilst thriving in sustainable markets and successfully generating income through trading. Some key issues to ensure this success would be:
- to have clarity within each region about which agencies are providing what support at each stage of development;
- achieve consistency of service within and across regions;
- social enterprises should be empowered to choose between support offerings;
- to take forward the development of business support for social enterprise which should focus on building what already works
Andrew comments: "What needs to take place now is better organised learning and exchange around good practice amongst all the RDAs at a national and regional level to ensure that social enterprises across the country receive a high quality service relevant to their needs."
For more information please contact Andrew Carter.
Exploring the support needs and potential markets for social enterprise
The launch of the social enterprise strategy for Scotland in late March prompted Communities Scotland to commission Rocket Science to carry out two pieces of development work for the sector. The first will be an analysis of the development and support needs of the sector, along with an investigation of current support services. The work will guide Communities Scotland on how it will invest around £400K in supporting social enterprise next year. We will be talking to key organisations in order to see how they think Communities Scotland should support the delivery of these services.
The second piece of work will look at potential markets for social enterprise. The emphasis will be on market areas that are sustainable in the long-term and which play to the strengths and values of social enterprises. An important part of this work will be looking at some areas where the position of social enterprises is under threat because of changes in government thinking on procurement and delivery, such as employment and the implications of the Freud Report. The report will also build on Rocket Science's work in England for the Office of the Third Sector and the many examples of good practice that exist across the RDA network.
For more information on this work please contact Alistair Grimes
Addressing the support needs of Young Ex-Offenders
YouthLink Scotland, Fairbridge and The Prince's Trust met with the Robertson Trust to discuss how to develop a new project to help young ex-offenders re-integrate into the community, move on in life and reduce the likelihood of re-offending. Initial discussions suggested the project should focus on the Paisley area of Renfrewshire where around 12% of those leaving Polmont Young Offenders Institute (YOI) come from. Renfrewshire Council and Scottish Prison Service (SPS) were both keen to explore the establishment of this project and how they could support it.
We were commissioned to conduct a feasibility study to assess the need for such a project as well as exploring what form it might take and how it would link in to the range of existing activity on offer within Polmont YOI and in the community. We spoke to a range of stakeholders and young people (currently in Polmont YOI) and identified the following key gaps which exist in relation to young people being released from Polmont:
- Support exists in the institution but when young people are released this drops off;
- There is little or no coordination or planning of support for young people being released;
- There is no provision to support young people to access the services that exist (which often means they do not access services such as housing, benefits, employability etc);
- Family networks are of fundamental importance to many young people being released - no approaches currently exist that include working with the young person alongside working with their family pre and post release.
This piece of work showed a great deal of support for the project, identifying the need for a model of support that would focus on the transition from Polmont YOI back into the community. Funders and the SPS emphasised that this project should "not be underestimated". They expressed a willingness to support a well-resourced project that could operate over a 5 year period.
The partnership quickly identified an appropriate way forward to creating a working model for its development. The Robertson Trust has provided initial one-year funding to set the project up and employ a manager to develop partnerships and create support conditions for young people on release from Polmont YOI. YouthLink Scotland will take the initial lead. Margaret McLeod of Youth Link Scotland said: "We have already fully implemented the recommendations that Rocket Science put forward and this week we are pleased to be welcoming our new Manager to develop these partnerships."
For more information on this project please contact Debbie Adams
New arrivals, sad goodbyes...
We're delighted that Jude Wilson (Edinburgh team), Francesca Hopwood Road and Katie Boswell have joined our Edinburgh and London teams as consultants. Emily Crawford (London consultant) joins us in a few weeks. Highly organised Office Manager Heather McKnight joined our Edinburgh office in April and Katie Francis will take up a similar position working with the London team in July
Jude was previously Manager of Services to Organisations within the Volunteer Centre in Edinburgh, which involved providing volunteer involving organisations with advice, information and training. Jude will no doubt provide the Edinburgh team with added value around our training, facilitation and events projects, especially those involving work with the voluntary and community sectors and young people.
Check out Jude's profile for more information.
Francesca has particular experience of social and justice policy, from her previous position of Assistant Policy Officer at Citizens Advice in London. Bringing to Rocket Science keen writing, dissemination and research skills, Francesca will be an asset to the team, providing added value to consultancy projects involving social and financial exclusion, private and public partnerships.
Check out Francesca's profile for more information.
Heather joins us from the Scottish Executive where she held the post of Team Administrator and Personal Assistant. We're delighted to have Heather on board to keep us in check, especially when it comes to organising meetings, special events and running the office. She's a whiz on Excel and an effective administrator and communicator. Did we mention that's she's also a rock and roll queen?...
You'll have to check out Heather's profile for more information.
Katie Boswell joins us as a recent Cambridge graduate. She's just back from working in India as an urban slums educational consultant where she employed a range of research techniques to understand the breadth and depth of education provision. A bit of a language expert as well! We are delighted to have her on board.
Check out Katie's profile for more information.
Emily will be joining us from the Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety, where she was Policy and Campaigns Officer. She has key research, analysis and project management skills and started off her career and studies in political science in Australia. We are looking forward to her sharing her insights from policy and practice in Australia.
Katie Francis has recently been employed by engineering firm Multitech Site Services Ltd based in Hertfordshire, but was keen to move to work in London. We are all looking forward to Katie joining us next month and to her bringing her considerable organisational and office management skills to bear on the London team!
Sad Goodbyes
We were really sad to see Annabel House and Ruth Evans of the London team leaving us. Meanwhile, Janice Renowden will continue to work with Rocket Science in a new role as a Senior Associate. We wish both Annabel and Ruth well in their new endeavours and look forward to a continuing association with Jan.
Quiz
Question:
A cat has one, a horse two - some animals have more. An elephant has only three - while a crocodile has four. What are they?
Please send your answers to Keira Farley (keira.farley@rocketsciencelab.co.uk)
Quiz question and answer for March's e-newsletter
Question: What is the name of the territory created on April 1st 1999 with its own parliament and legislature, a land area eight times that of the UK and a population of 27,000?
Answer: Nunavut, a territory in Canada, formally included in the Northwest Territories. It was officially separated from the Northwest Territories on 1st April 1999.
This quiz question proved a tough one, but we can still announce that some of our friends and colleagues got this right! Well done to: Kelly Faughnan of Edinburgh City Council, Julie Sexton of Tomorrow's People, Christine Doherty of NEAR, Sarah Carrick of the LSC, Jay Sharma of NCVO, Nicky Neilson of Momentum, Mellan Ronan of Glasgow Housing Association, Anne-Marie Coxon of Cogent Strategies International Ltd, Angela Hampton of Glasgow Housing Association, and Dave Coulter of Scottish Enterprise.