You are here News From Creating Excellence: Funding Secured for Empowering Communities Work in South West
The Communities Secretary, Hazel Blears, announced on Tuesday (5 March 2008) £2.3 million for the National Empowerment Partnership Initiative. Empowering Communities, the consortium led by Creating Excellence, is the South West arm of this work and will complete the pilot phase of its research work at the end of March. The announcement of this funding means that the work of Empowering Communities can continue for at least another year to 2009, with the expectation of continuing for the two following years.
Hazel Blears also announced plans for a new White Paper focused on empowering citizens. Responses to the Paper are welcomed until 10 April and more information can be found with the launch document at www.communities.gov.uk/unlockingtalent.
The White Paper focuses on four key areas:
- improving deprived areas through regeneration and promoting work and enterprise
- encouraging active citizenship and reviving civic society and local democracy
- improving local public services
- strengthening local accountability*
(* bullet points taken from http://www.communities.gov.uk)
John Skrine, of Creating Excellence and lead on Empowering Communities welcomed the continued funding and the White Paper, "It is great to see that the empowerment agenda is being taken seriously by central government. We are excited about the work taking place in the South West and look forward to learning from what has worked in the region in order to increase community empowerment and engagement particularly in deprived and rural communities over the next year."
For the press release from CLG see http://www.communities.gov.uk/news/corporate/712771.
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