The Social Enterprise Hub project was presented at RDA Illawarra’s 2010 State of the Illawarra Regional Leaders Summit, following an Expression of Interest process to identify projects for presentation at the Summit.
The project proposes a regional Hub to act as a resource, referral and information centre to support the formation and operation of local Social Enterprises and to ultimately build the capacity of socially disadvantaged members of the Illawarra community and contribute to local economic development.
Since the Summit, a working party has met, and has commenced scoping the project, to take it from concept to working model.
It was recognised that many people are unfamiliar with the concept of Social Enterprise, so as s first step, the working party devised a definition for Social Enterprise:
"A Social Enterprise is a businesses which generates income, and which also contributes to the community it serves”
Therefore, the Hub will be an organisation which supports the work of social enterprise within the Illawarra through a range of activities.
The Social Enterprise Hub will not be a source of, or allocation mechanism for, seed capital for new Social Enterprises; but may have a role in connecting organisations to funding sources. The working group has adopted an inclusive approach as the broad framework for the Hub, with a wide range of enterprises of diverse maturity and size being included, playing different roles and requiring different levels of support.
The Hub provides opportunity to harness the knowledge and resources of government, business and community sectors, all of which have an equal stake and the capacity to make different, but equal contribution to the Hub.
The working party has also submitted an application to the Community Builders program, for a three year project to establish the Hub, which will be auspiced by RDA Illawarra.
The next steps identified are:
- Continue to look for funding opportunities for the Coordinator/Project Officer position.
- Consult with Community Sector and current Social Enterprise organisations to determine their needs.
- Continue to develop the model so that when funding is received, the project is ready to be implemented.
