ESRC Society Today

This seminar was the third in a series of four. It followed previous events which examined social enterprise and housing and social enterprise, regeneration, planning and worklessness.

As many social enterprises are based in specific geographic areas and serve the specific needs of that particular community, they often have a significant role to play in supporting local democratic renewal. They engage and involve communities in a way that is often more difficult for the statutory sector, and can help people to play a leading role in tackling local problems. Social enterprises can often provide a link between the statutory and community sectors and can also be responsible to promoting a local community 'voice'.

Social enterprise can also form connections within communities, increasing community interaction and interdependences. Social enterprises can help bring communities together, increasing economic empowerment, skills and training and promoting community independence.

Some of the key issues this seminar addressed included:

• How do social enterprises harness and build different kinds of social capital?
• Relationships between community background and social and environmental motivations.
• The role of faith in social enterprises to reach out to the wider local community
• The opportunities for different kinds of community groups to enhance their social and environmental impact, and 'under the radar' social enterprises to benefit from working with networks.

 Download Agenda and Presentations:

1. The seminar agenda (PDF, 116KB)
2. David Rayner, CLG (PDF, 31.5KB) 
3. Dr Rebecca Harding, Delta Economics and Fellow at the Essex School of Enterprise and Business (PDF, 532KB)
4. Professor Richard Farnell, University of Coventry (PDF, 96KB) 
5. Uday Thakkar, Red Ochre (PDF, 76KB)
6. Jim Blakemore, Bikeworks (PDF 771KB) 
7. Bikeworks website (with film)