Your Own Place

Norwich

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Social Saturday 2016 #SocialSaturdayNorfolk

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Social Saturday 2016

The Missing Kind, Your Own Place CIC, Lola Stafford Consulting and The Feed CIC, all social enterprises based in Norfolk, are holding a social enterprise open day on 15th October from 1pm to celebrate Social Saturday, a nationwide day of events and activities to celebrate social enterprise, social investment and social savings in the UK.

From 1pm experts will be sharing their passion for social enterprise and how it helps local communities, as well as inspiring future social entrepreneurs. There will be activities to get involved, learn more about ‘buying social’ as well as some scrumptious cup cakes!

It’ll kick-off from 1pm at The Missing Kind, 21 Castle Meadow, Norwich, NR1 3DH. At 4pm we’ll be heading to City Hall to share our messages of a kinder social economy.

All these social enterprises are business-like in their approach to bringing about social change – whether it’s to make a more compassionate world, prevent youth homelessness, benefit local communities and business or providing catering whilst supporting vulnerable adults to develop employment skills.

Social enterprises are businesses that trade to meet a social or environmental mission. There are around 70,000 social enterprises in the UK, employing nearly a million people and contributing £24 billion to the economy.

Collectively, we’re taking part because we believe that ‘buying social’ should become part of everyday life for shoppers. Why shouldn’t people try to do a bit of good whilst spending their money?

Social Saturday is a national campaign led by Social Enterprise UK and the Cabinet Office.

What’s our impact?

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What’s our impact?

Every intervention counts!  We’re committed to making every intervention as engaging and positive as it can be.  We know that young people learn best this way.  Last week was no different.  Six young people started and finished a three-day Tenancy & Independent Living Skills (TILS) course in The Training Flat.  We covered everything from reading the gas meter, understanding borrowing & APR to how to manage a flat-sharing situation.  We worked with the young people to identify not just their existing strengths and knowledge, but their aspirations and how they will feel when they get their own place.  Feedback was amazing with one young person saying ‘I learnt a lot of awesome things’.  Read our one-page impact report here.

Alex reflects on the first few months

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Being new to this sector I’ve had an awful lot to learn. I previously had some volunteering experience with young people. Coming into this role I wasn’t sure about the ways to communicate as a professional working directly with young people. In my first few months with Your Own Place I’ve learnt an awful lot on this.

During my first few weeks, on a handful of occasions, I was mistaken for a young service user. I took this as a compliment, naturally. But I was so disheartened by the way I was treated – little to no eye contact and little interest in listening to what I had to say. In these moments of confusion I felt like a burden, I felt judged and I felt uncomfortable.

Don’t get me wrong, 99% of the experiences I’ve had throughout my journey so far have been positive and there are some amazing organisations working with Norfolk’s young people. But these handful of experiences still resonate with me.

For me this was the best learning experience I could have. While professional boundaries are fundamental to the work I do, I place mutual respect at the same level of importance. We cannot build up the aspirations of young people whilst rolling our eyes at them and muttering under our breath.

The end of the beginning…

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The end of the beginning

You’ll see comments all over our lovely white-board wall from the launch of The Training Flat yesterday.  Over 40 guests joined us during the day to wish us well, learn more and discuss getting involved with this innovative project.  Next week we welcome eight young people for three days to develop their Tenancy & Independent Living Skills (TILS).  The launch is the end of the beginning and now we have to make a difference to young people’s lives that help them towards the future they want.  MustardTV came down today too.  You can see their short film of the launch here.

Launch day is nearly here…

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Launch day is nearly here

So today was spent getting The Training Flat spotless ready for tomorrow.  We’re welcoming over 50 guests from all sectors and corners of Norfolk.  We’ll be cutting the ribbon around midday and announcing that The Training Flat is open for business.  On a serious note, we now have to make this work.  It’s been a whirlwind getting everything ready.  We now have to reach young people from all walks of life to support and prepare them for adult life.  And someone has to pay for this potentially life-changing service.  We’re excited about the prospects and believe there’s no shortage of business.  We just have to reach it by being the best.  No pressure!