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6. Case studies - how can the third sector deliver better services?
The best understanding of how an enterprising third sector works is provided by case studies. The examples below show how quality services, meeting a wide variety of social and environmental needs, are provided by enterprising third sector organisations in Scotland. As can clearly be seen, the third sector not only has the potential to meet our national outcomes, it is already doing so.
This action plan will create the environment that will help the third sector contribute to our purpose of a more successful Scotland. It will also help an enterprising third sector contribute to our strategic objectives and national outcomes, as the case studies below show.
National outcome: We realise our full economic potential with more and better employment opportunities for our people
6.1 Touchwood Recycling Company
The Touchwood Recycling Company was established in Uig in Skye in 2002 by the Social Firm Development Group. The wood recycling workshop employs a number of people in the manufacture of small pieces of furniture from waste wood such as pallets, oak barrels and household furniture. It employs a significant number of people who have disabilities or health problems or who have been unemployed for a long period of time. The company has recently 'branched out' into recycling fallen trees and is also recycling industrial waste from the local refuse tip.
In 2006-07 the company generated just over 10% of its total income from sales. In 2007-08 it is forecast that this will have risen to around 55%. The company now employs seven people full time and provides ten placement opportunities for people with disabilities and health problems. In 2006-07 it recycled 125 tonnes of waste wood. In 2007-08 this had risen to 200 tonnes.
In addition to the jobs provided, the company provides much wider benefits to the community with regard to the environment and reducing the amount of waste going to landfill. In 2008, Touchwood plans to expand its operations to include glass recycling, composting and biodiesel.
6.2 Social Enterprise Clydebank Ltd
Social Enterprise Clydebank Ltd started as Dalmuir Community Concierge Service ( DCCS) in 2004. DCCS was then set up as a partnership between Dalmuir Park and Trafalgar Housing Associations and Linkwide Ltd, to provide non-skilled estate maintenance services such as gardening, close cleaning, bulk uplifts and void clearances, as well as graffiti and dog foul removal for their tenants. It is a socially owned enterprise that aims to offer jobs and training for local people whilst enhancing the quality of the local environment. The intention was always for the company to become a stand-alone business, locally controlled. This has now been achieved as the company recently became fully independent from its parent The Link Group. It has now changed its name to Social Enterprise Clydebank Ltd ( SECL).
Having started with a team of three working in the Clydebank area, the service has expanded to cover ten housing associations across the Central Belt of Scotland. It now employs 17 staff, many of whom are former trainees. In addition to these, there are also ten trainees, all of whom have come through either the Skillseeker or New Deal Programmes. In the financial year 2007/2008, the company undertook £283,000 worth of work.
Landlords are buying SECL's services not because it is a charity but because it is cost-effective and because it offers a high quality of service. The service's model has been praised by Venturesome, part of the Charities Aid Foundation, which hailed it as one of the best social enterprise models they had come across.
The company has plans for growth, with a possible joint venture with Home from Home, a furniture recycler in Dumbarton, which would increase both the services offered by SECL and the training opportunities for staff and trainees. The company would also like to become a training provider in its own right, helping Skillseeker trainees to earn SVQs while on the job.
National outcome: We are better educated, more skilled and more successful, renowned for our research and innovation
6.3 Spruce Carpets
Set up by social entrepreneur Kate Atkinson in February 2005, Spruce Carpets takes deliveries of end of line carpet and carpet tiles in good condition from households and commercial sources and refurbishes them using a simple industrial cleaning process. Reconditioned flooring is then sold at low prices, from a number of outlets in Glasgow, and is also fitted for the customer at affordable rates.
The simple idea is to match the demand for low-cost carpets with the high quality discarded flooring, diverting material from landfill, whilst also providing volunteer opportunities and New Deal training in the carpet industry and the trade of floor laying. Although there is no formal referral process and anyone can access the service, Spruce Carpets markets only to support agencies, housing associations and social work departments.
Spruce Carpets has received start-up funding from a number of agencies and programmes with an interest in recycling, and environmental issues: Transforming Waste Scotland, the National House Building Council, the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency ( SEPA), the INCREASE programme and several grant making trusts.
Spruce Carpets has just completed its third year of operation. Turnover is approximately £250,000 of which £175,000 is from sales.
In the last year Spruce Carpets has achieved the following social and environmental benefits:
- diverting 100 tonnes of Glasgow carpet waste from landfill
- creating four new jobs in the last year and continuing to employ 8 members of staff
- creating 38 volunteer opportunities for disadvantaged people
- generating eight New Deal training places for young people from marginalised backgrounds
- assisting 885 households to resettle more quickly into their new homes and thereby reducing tenancy failure
National outcome: Our young people are successful learners, confident individuals, effective contributors and responsible citizens
6.4 YMCA, Scottish Borders
YMCA Scotland works to help young people achieve the four Curriculum for Excellence capacities - successful learners, confident individuals, effective contributors and responsible citizens. YMCA successfully piloted materials designed specifically to build the four capacities. These were launched for public sale in March 2008 and have been purchased by many local authorities and schools.
In the Scottish Borders, the local YMCA identified the key problems experienced by teenagers who had disengaged from school. These included family dysfunction, bullying and low self-esteem. They then developed a project to support P6 pupils referred by their schools and families. Trained YMCA volunteer mentors then build a supportive relationship with each young person and his/her family, with this support continuing through primary and into secondary education.
National outcome: We have tackled the significant inequalities in Scottish society
6.5 Green Tracks
Green Tracks is a social firm focused on landscaping, maintenance and conservation. It evolved in 1998 from an activity within the Alford Day Centre in Aberdeen and serves the city of Aberdeen and its surrounding area. Green Tracks offers training and employment for people recovering from drug misuse, mental illness or other disadvantage.
From 2004 onwards, Green Tracks began to develop increasingly as a social business, generating income from public and private contracts. Over the last four years, the percentage of income generated from sales has increased from £10,000 to a projected £76,000 for 2007-2008 (representing around 55% of turnover). The contracts have to date been with the private sector.
Green Tracks offers opportunities to people who have been excluded from mainstream work through mental illness and/or substance misuse, helping them to return to previous occupations or secure new employment. Other trainees have been able to find opportunities in colleges or supported employment.
National outcome: We have improved the life chances for children, young people and families at risk
6.6 North Edinburgh Childcare
North Edinburgh Childcare first opened its doors to children in the spring of 1997 following a campaign by a group of local women for the creation of a custom built state of the art childcare facility. The organisation developed in response to an identified need for affordable, flexible childcare in North Edinburgh that would enable local parents and carers to access increased opportunities for work, training or education.
The organisation now offers an even wider range of services including pre-school care in the centre, out of school care for 180 children in 6 local primary schools, and crèche services throughout the local area as well as city-wide. They also offer training services for a range of accredited and non-accredited training, again working locally and throughout the city.
In particular, the Childcare Academy was designed to provide intense levels of support enabling those furthest from the labour market to access and sustain opportunities for training and employment in the childcare field. It gives unemployed people the opportunity to achieve recognised childcare qualifications.
The Academy has now successfully supported over 65 unemployed people to gain employment in the childcare sector. This success was recognised when the Academy was nominated for a European Social Fund award for the project with the 'most impact on a community'.
National outcome: We live our lives safe from crime, disorder and danger
6.7 Routes out of Prison - the Wise Group
Routes out of Prison project is a partnership between the Wise Group and public sector, including the Scottish Prison Service and the Scottish Government. It works to support those people due to be released from prison to the communities of Glasgow, North Lanarkshire and Renfrewshire.
The Wise Group employs 16 Life Coaches working with prisoners before they are released from Barlinnie and Cornton Vale prisons and Polmont Young Offenders Institution. They offer mentoring and support to clients. Most of these Life Coaches have a background of offending themselves and are using their experiences in turning their lives around to help other ex-offenders acquire the life, social and employment skills they will need when they rejoin society.
Since the project commenced in August 2006, the Wise Group has engaged with 1565 clients when in prison, 798 of which had at least one engagement with a Life Coach on release. Of these 798, 151 secured an employment related outcome, either a job or a training place. The project costs an average of £1,200 for each client. As a comparison, it is estimated that the cost to society as a result of some of the clients' lifestyles can be as high as £187,000 in a year.
National outcome: We have strong resilient and supportive communities where people take responsibility for their own actions and how they affect others
6.8 Dundee International Women's Centre
Dundee International Women's Centre ( DIWC) is a Company Limited by Guarantee with charitable status that was established nearly 40 years ago. DIWC works with more than 450 women in Dundee from over 59 countries of origin, speaking 38 different languages and having 15 different belief systems. The centre provides educational, employment and training opportunities. In addition it gives access to social and recreational opportunities including civic events that contribute to personal growth and development. To reduce barriers to participation DIWC provides a registered childcare service, holiday play schemes and mother and toddler activities.
Topics covered by its educational services include various levels of IT, English for Speakers of Other Languages, accredited childcare qualifications, driving theory, cooking and keep-fit. In addition to this, DIWC provides an array of social and cultural events, which involve service users as well as the local and wider community.
As part of a move towards greater financial sustainability, DIWC has developed a number of social enterprise projects that also provide employment, traineeships and volunteering opportunities. Rise and Shine Childcare provides care for children aged between 0 and 12 years through in-house and mobile community crèche, holiday play schemes and birthday parties. The Wooden Spoon Catering Co. offers a selection of creative, healthy, authentic homemade, multicultural foods at an affordable price. Early indication shows that both projects are proving to be successful in terms of providing income for the DIWC as well as contributing to the economic growth of the community.
DWIC were highly commended at the 2007 Scottish Urban Regeneration Forum ( SURF) awards in 2007.
6.9 Loganlea Miners' Welfare Society and Social Club
The Loganlea Miners' Charitable Society has been at the heart of the local community for many years, with many of the village's population registered as members. The Charitable Society's trading arm is called the Loganlea Miners' Welfare Society and Social Club, which supports the facility and the entertainment, shows and activities on offer to the members and wider community through income generation. All profits are covenanted to the Charitable Society for good causes and building upkeep.
Other initiatives include the Pitstop, formerly called the One Stop Shop Project in Addiewell, West Lothian. The Pitstop is a community-owned building used for recreation and education. It includes a fitness suite, sauna, purpose built two-tier soft play room, and a multi-purpose room, offering internet access, games, children's parties and group meeting facilities. This is offered for all ages of the community within the coalfields area, and is run with the aid of a group of volunteers and permanent staff.
National outcome: Our public services are high quality, continually improving, efficient and responsive to local people's needs
6.10 HomeReach
HomeReach brings together three furniture recycling organisations in North Lanarkshire. The service was designed in partnership with North Lanarkshire Council, as a Public Social Partnership ( PSP), to provide emergency furniture services for people who are homeless.
The service links waste management issues and the needs of vulnerable tenants by reducing the amount of unwanted furniture going to landfill and making it available to vulnerable individuals and families. The three organisations collaborated with the local authority - working across Housing, Social Work, Economic Development and Community Services departments - to design a service that would meet the needs of users. This approach enabled the three organisations to deliver an efficient service which they would not have been able to provide on their own.
The PSP developed three key services: provision of emergency furniture packs for vulnerable people moving into Council tenancies, storage of furniture when a tenancy ends suddenly, and permanent furniture packs to those not eligible for Community Care Grants.
In its first year of operation, the consortium provided 300 packs within time and budget. This generated over £200,000 of income and created 12 full-time jobs equivalent. The public social partnership has improved the service delivered to tenants and improved communication between service delivery organisations and the local authority.
6.11 Crisis Ltd
Crisis Ltd was established to offer counselling and support to people in immediate need. The service was started by Jean Cumming in 1996, as a result of the frustration she experienced as a health service employee observing people waiting 52 weeks for psychiatric appointments. Jean retrained as a counsellor and, with other willing professionals, established a free counselling service which quickly grew. The service is now available Scotland-wide to all age ranges. The Counselling Services are delivered in the workplace, at Crisis' own facilities, or on occasion through home visits. Counselling services are offered often within hours of request and to suit individuals. Clients are referred from statutory agencies such as General Practitioners, Social Workers and other organisations, or alternatively, through self-referral.
Crisis Ltd operated on grants and donations until 2007, when the decision was taken to begin charging fees to people in employment, business and for consultancy - at varying rates. Employers with whom they have secured contracts include Arriva Buses, Erskine Hospital and Care Visions Scotland. Income from contracts is expected to top £57,000 in 2008. A Service Level Agreement has been agreed with Greater Glasgow & Clyde Health Board and Crisis Ltd is aiming for 80% sustainability within the next twelve months.
10,000 people have benefited from Crisis' counselling services since its launch, with numbers now averaging 1500 per annum. The impact of the service can be seen in people getting back to work sooner, people becoming more active within their community, learning new skills and dealing with anxiety, anger or stress. The added value provided by the service, as demonstrated in audits, is reflected in fewer referrals to hospital, a reduction in pharmaceutical prescribing, and a reduction in domestic violence, maintaining family systems as well as improving mental and physical health and wellbeing within local communities.
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