CDF to help more community groups take up the Community Rights
Community Development Foundation
CDF is running the new First Steps programme, facilitating the networking of community groups and activists on Just Act and is part of a consortium to help communities create community economic development plans.
We are pleased to announce that we will be providing support for communities to take up the Government’s Community Rights until March 2016.
We will be running the new First Steps programme, which will help at least 100 new communities to identify important local issues and develop community action plans. This will complement and broaden the activity of the Our Place programme to different types of communities, which will also continue to March 2016 and be delivered by Locality.
Our Just Act website will be the dedicated place for community groups and activists to network, share experiences and access live expert web chats. We are working in partnership with Locality to deliver this support, which will complement their advice and support services.
And we are also part of a consortium led by Co-operatives UK to help 50 pre-selected areas create community economic development plans.
Today the Communities Minister Stephen Williams MP announced that a further £6m of funding to support communities to take up the Community Rights until March 2016.
The programme will see the extension of the hugely successful Neighbourhood Planning, Our Place, Right to Build and Community Ownership and Management of Assets (COMA) programmes, as well as the creation of the First Steps and Community Economic Development (CED) programmes.
Alison Seabrooke, Chief Executive of CDF, said:
“I am very pleased that CDF will be involved in helping even more communities take up the Community Rights and make a real difference to their neighbourhoods.
“CDF is well-placed to facilitate networking across the country and help communities to develop their own plans and become more economically resilient.
“We look forward to working closely with Locality, Co-operatives UK and all the other partners involved to give even more people greater control over what happens in their area”.
More information on the networking opportunities will be live on Just Act from Wednesday 4 March 2015 and applications for the First Steps programme will open on 1 April 2015.
Read the announcement from the Department of Communities and Local Government (DCLG)
Read Locality’s response to the announcement
