The Centre one year on: Where have we come from and where are we going?
By Billy Holt, Housing Intern, HACT
Our first year at the Centre for Excellence in Community Investment has been a busy one. We’ve published numerous blogs on a range of topics from financial stability to sport. As the Centre celebrates its first birthday, we take a look at some of the highlights:
One year on: Financial stability
One year on: Local issues, local solutions
One year on: Developing insight
The landscape of community investment is always shifting, affected by the winds of political, social and economic change, technological advances and funding priorities. As we reflect on our first year in operation, we want to know what opportunities and challenges you’d like to see discussed going forward.
Along with a series of blog posts today, we’ll be running a quick online poll on our Twitter at @Centre4CI. By sharing ideas we can ensure that the Centre remains relevant, focussed and attentive to upcoming challenges in social housing. So join in the conversation!
News & views
New Skills Academy – Tackling the challenge of scalable upskilling as part of a HA community investment programme
PWC recently ran a poll of 4,000 people who cited their lack of relevant skills as their biggest barrier to success and social mobility. Housing Associations have been focused on how to address this need for accessible and engaging upskilling for some time. However, the challenge has been in finding a scalable solution given the resources constraints experienced by most HA community investment teams.
Post-Covid Recovery Funding Available for VCSE Sector
Offering repayable and flexible finance, the Recovery Loan Fund will work under the terms of the British Business Bank Recovery Loan Scheme (RLS) – which supports access to finance for UK businesses as they recover and grow following the Covid-19 pandemic.
Fuel poverty: how the housing sector has helped
HACT has distributed almost £1 million worth of fuel vouchers over the past nine months, by working collaboratively with other housing sector partners.