Repository
A curated and searchable collection of community-related research reports, case studies and publications from the Institute for Community Studies and other organisations.
Employment and skills: The role of community businesses – Research Summary
Published: 2020
# Preview | Download RI-27S-Employment and skills.pdf132kB Author(s) Helen Barrett Amy Bosley Steven Brand Melanie Brooks Andrew Hunt Donna Vascott Citation Barrett, H., Bosley, A., Brand, S., Brooks, M., Hunt, A. and Vascott, D. (2020) Employment and skills: The role
Employment and skills: The role of community businesses
Published: 2020
This report explores how community businesses’ skills and employability development activities contribute to local economic development. SERIO, an applied research unit at the University of Plymouth, carried out case studies with twelve community businesses. SERIO engaged with community business leaders, staff, volunteers and beneficiaries of…
A short guide to community business: What they are and how they make places better
Published: 2020
# Preview | Download G-2020-11-A short guide to community business.pdf3MB Author(s) Unspecified Citation Unspecified (2020) A short guide to community business: What they are and how they make places better. Practice Guide. Power to Change. Details Report type: Practice Guide
Understanding a maturing community shares market
Published: 2020
This paper is the first of two reports by Co-operatives UK reviewing the community shares market. The community shares investment model has become a popular approach to raising finance and since 2012, £155 million has been raised by over 103,000 people to save and create more than 440 vital spaces and services. This report comprises of communi…
Trading Up: Match Trading® for Community Businesses as a powerful incentive for regeneration post-COVID
Published: 2020
This report demonstrates the impact of the Community Business Trade Up programme, a five year, £6.5million support programme aimed at strengthening community businesses. The aim of the programme is to help participants increase their trading income, build an entrepreneurial mindset, reduce grant dependency and be financially sustainable. Run b…
Think Big, Act Small: Elinor Ostrom’s Radical Vision for Community Power
Published: 2020
Elinor Ostrom is the intellectual hero of the community power movement. She humanised the study of economics and politics and discovered what is possible, and the problems that can be solved, when we trust each other. In this new piece of work, New Local’s Dr Simon Kaye explores her ideas, and presents their lessons for the UK today.
Researching community responses to COVID-19: a methodological note
Published: 2020
Local Trust commissioned a team of researchers, led by the Third Sector Research Centre, to undertake a study exploring how communities react to, cope with and recover from COVID-19. The aim of the study is to learn, in real time, how different communities have and are responding to the impact of COVID-19, how they make this happen and how they…
Rapid research COVID-19 Briefing #6: Stepping up and helping out: grassroots volunteering in response to COVID-19
Published: 2020
In Briefing 5, Volunteering through crisis and beyond: starting, stopping and shifting, we provided an overview of literature on volunteering. It ended with a question: would all those who have stepped up in their communities call themselves volunteers?
Our current research into community responses to COVID-19 across 26 areas of England offers…
Peer Research in the UK
Published: 2020
This report takes an in-depth look at the use of peer research in the UK today, providing a comprehensive introduction to the methodology and advocating for its value as a legitimate and insightful research approach. The report covers:
The definition of peer research as a methodology and a discussion of its many advantages.
A…
National CLT Network – State of the Sector 2020
Published: 2020
A summary of current state of the community land trust sector in England and Wales. The data used to compile this report is taken from the Community Led Homes database, the most comprehensive dataset on the sector, and is sourced from community-led housing groups, enabler hubs and funders.
Measuring the impact of community businesses at neighbourhood level
Published: 2020
Power to Change commissioned Kantar in 2019 to conduct a ‘hyperlocal’ version of the national Community Life Survey (CLS) in six operational areas centred around community businesses supported by Power to Change. Each area has a mean average population 1,500 people. The ‘hyperlocal’ design builds on studies conducted in 2017 and 2018 wh…
Growing Community Businesses – An interim evaluation of Bright Ideas, the Community Business Fund and Trade Up
Published: 2020
Power to Change commissioned Renaisi in April 2019 to evaluate three programmes: Bright Ideas, Trade Up and the Community Business Fund. The overall aim of the evaluation is to help Power to Change draw lessons about the impact of the funding, and to measure whether the three funds have met their aims to: (i) understand the impact of Power to C…