Community Catalysts

What is the project?

Community Catalysts is a social enterprise supporting local people to set up and develop micro-enterprises.

A micro-enterprise is a small business employing eight or fewer full-time employees, which provides personal care or support to people in their homes or community.

The focus of Community Catalysts is to help people in the community to live the life they want to.

It does this by empowering and supporting people on the journey to set up micro-enterprises across Wales.

It also helps them to meet the ‘Doing it right’ standards, so they are safe, legal, person-centred and sustainable.

Community Catalysts has a learning network for those involved to help keep them updated and to navigate the changes in practice and legislation affecting micro-enterprises.

Why is it being carried out?

The project contributes to the provision of more personalised care, especially in rural areas where care has been more challenging to provide in the past.

It's able to reach groups and communities that are often overlooked and support people within them into social care employment.

The increased number of micro-enterprises providing care also means there’s a reduction in waiting times for personal care in the areas where they operate. There’s also been an increase in the use of Direct Payments.

The project's local focus means it also contributes to money being kept in the local economy, supporting the businesses and people within it.

In addition to supporting brand new care and support enterprises to launch, Community Catalysts can also help existing micro-enterprises to complete the Doing it Right Standards. 

Community Catalysts can also help local businesses diversify to provide care and support for local people. Examples include gardeners offering additional services to provide companionship and support to local people and cafes offering hot meal deliveries to older and disabled people, all of which helps further develop what the community can offer.

Where and when is the work taking place?

The project started in 2009 and is ongoing.

Work is currently being carried out in Wrexham, Gwynedd, Rhondda Cynon Taf and Cardiff, but has also taken place in Powys and Pembrokeshire and a project has been supported in Denbighshire.

Who’s involved?

This project has been funded by contracts from councils in the areas where the work is taking place and has taken place in the past.

The project has also showcased its work through Social Care Wales’s Place-Based Care Community and connected with members.

What’s been learnt from the project so far?

The project has faced challenges such as building trust locally and nationally, generating enough interest in setting up community micro-enterprises, and encouraging local councils to try new approaches.

To overcome these challenges, the Community Catalysts project:

• spent time in community venues, getting to know people and local services
• used social media to reach people, which helped raise the project’s profile significantly
• dedicated time to talk to councils and social care staff to explain the work and how it can give local people more options around the support they use.

They also highlight the importance of exploring the resources and opportunities that already exist in the communities and securing buy-in from strategic and key social care staff.

In future, the project team hope to help with the creation of more support in the community, outside of people’s homes, such as swimming groups for people with disabilities, dementia cafes or gaming clubs.

They’re particularly interested in supporting people with lived experience to set up their own community-based micro enterprises.