Business boost for asset transfer and community enterprise

Business in the Community joined a meeting yesterday convened by Hazel Blears MP, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government to explore how business can take a more active role in supporting local communities to make best use of their building assets. This is part of the Quirk Review 'Making Assets Work' which was conducted last year.

ProHelp has a membership of over 800 professional firms committed to providing free advice and support. Our challenge is raising awareness amongst community organisations about this valuable resource.

Blears is encouraging business to take a more active role in supporting local community enterprise by providing free expert advice in return for involvement in projects that transform disused buildings into vibrant community centres.

Community assets 

The community assets initiative encourages the transfer of ownership and management of building assets from local authorities to community organisations.  The meeting bought together representatives from some of the UK's leading companies and key third sector networks to explore the most effective ways of working together to share their expertise and professional advice to aid successful transfer of assets.

Community organisations will be able to work with and learn from experts in finances, project development and management, learning real business skills which will set their project, and their workforce, on strong foundations.

Invaluable experience 

In return for contributing this technical advice and management support, businesses will be able to gain invaluable experience from social enterprises, volunteering and skills development opportunities for their own staff, and give themselves the opportunity to forge long term relationships or even collaborate on new initiatives. It is also an opportunity to become a trusted source for consultancy and expertise in the future and, through recommendation, get involved in existing projects.

In Norfolk, collaborative support from surveyors, architects, civil engineers and an accountancy firm, through ProHelp, Business in the Community's national pro bono campaign, enabled the conversion of a former Baptist school room to Meeting Hill Day Centre, a day centre for the elderly in rural Norfolk. This resulted not only in a new community centre in the local area but also created six new jobs and a local building enterprise was also set up.

Recommendations from the meeting will be fed into the next stages of the Quirk Review.

Getting involved with ProHelp 

To find out more about ProHelp, visit the website »