In 2019 Access (The Foundation for Social Investment) and Big Society Capital invited twelve cities to submit proposals to their ten-year £33m programme of support for charities and social enterprises.

Together, a consortium of Bradford organisations developed a concept and proposal that led to the city’s selection for the Local Access Programme and unlocked £6.6m of funding to build resilience and provoke social innovation.

For the social enterprise ecosystem and the community and voluntary sectors, we know this will be a vital development.

On this page you can follow our participation in the Local Access Programme, learn about the composition of the team and partner organisations, download and read our publications, gain an understanding of the timeline of events and get in touch for further information.

Kamran Rashid, CEO
Impact Hub Bradford CIC

Nasim Qureshi
Inspired Neighbourhoods CIC

Phil Witcherley
City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council

Dave Thornett
Key Fund

Kate Hainsworth
Leeds Community Foundation

Shirley Congdon
University of Bradford

Hugh Rolo
Locality

Julia Brannigan
PriceWaterhouseCoopers

Wendy Spencer
Airedale Enterprise Services

Steph Taylor
Leeds Community Foundation

Ian Westlake
City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council

Our journey through the Local Access Partnership has been marked by the publication of several proposals which summarise our thinking at various stages of progress. These publications are available to read or download by following the links below.

Bradford District, A Lab for Social Innovation
(Concept Note, April 2019 – Dropbox, Issuu)

Bradford Social Innovation Lab
(Proposal, December 2019 – Dropbox, Issuu)

A number of Bradford organisations have come together as a consortium to represent the city in the Local Access Programme. Each bring a unique perspective and set of skills to the group, forming a diverse, agile and innovative team representing the city’s brightest communities.

Development of Bradford’s contribution to the Local Access Programme has taken place across a number of webinars, residential gatherings, workshops and visits throughout 2019 and 2020. This series of events have alternately brought together the Bradford team as well as the full national cohort of cities in the programme, and their representatives.

The timeline of these events is as follows…

2019

• 10th April – 1st Workshop
• 30th April – Concept Note Submitted
• 14th May – Access team visit to Bradford
• 29th May – Partnership Panel Workshop
• 18th June – The Big Advice
• 19th June – Webinar 1
• 25th June – Seb Elsworth Visit
• 26th June – Vision Workshop
• 4th July – Webinar 2
• 9th July – Visit to Birmingham
• 10th July – Open Consultation 2
• 19th July – Social Enterprise Survey shared
• 30th July – Investment – Workshop
• 6th August – Enterprise – Workshop
• 3rd September – Proposal Review Day
• 6th December – Local Access Programme: Bradford Visit

2020

• 13th February – Local Access Programme: Residential
• 2nd April – Discovery Meeting
• 16th April – Partnership Meeting
• 26th May – Webinar
• 14th July – Webinar: Governance
• 19th August – Bristol Peer Learning
• 16th October – Learning & Evaluation Webinar

2021

• 28th January – Launch of Codesigning Social Impact survey
• 22nd February – Values: Codesigning Social Impact workshop
• 2nd March – Governance: Designing governance for the LAP workshop
• 8th March – Co-creation workshop #1: Key features of a social enterprise (for existing social enterprises)
• 12th March – Co-creation workshop #2: Key features of a social enterprise (for new social enterprises)
• 15th March – Co-creation workshop 3: Developing a business mindset
• 22nd March – Co-creation workshop 4: Business planning
• 24th March – Local Access Programme governance model
• 26th March – Co-creation workshop 4: Understanding blended finance
• 29th March – Co-creation workshop 5: Social impact, next steps & the shape of the future support programme
• 31st March – LAP Governance model workshop
• 15th April – LAP Governance model workshop

2022

• 10th June – Launch of Local Access Bradford District

If you’d like to stay in touch with our work on the Local Access Programme, you can follow our social media and subscribe to our newsletter. Alternatively, you get in touch below if you’d like to discuss the programme directly.