Making room: how Social Impact Pledges can help community groups in need of space
/One of the issues community organisations most fequently raise with Communities Channel Scotland is how to go about finding some space in which to operate from.
Smaller community groups often don’t have a revenue stream that would enable them to take ownership of an asset using, for instance, the asset-transfer request section of the Act.
Although the Act states that community bodies can, as an alternative to purchasing an asset, apply to lease, manage or use an asset, the requirements and complexity of the asset-transfer process would seem to be geared towards something more substantial than, say, making use of a spare room in a public building to run a small community project.
The Social Impact Pledge
That’s why Communities Channel Scotland is so keen to encourage public bodies to use the Social Impact Pledge to let community organisations use rooms, buildings and other spaces. There are already some great examples of this. For instance, in their latest pledges, Glasgow Clyde College and the University of Edinburgh commited to offering the use of rooms for free or at discounted rates.
At a time when community activity, participation and empowerment is being valued at a policy level, it is counter-intuitive that local community groups find it hard to find any kind of base. The Empowerment Act and other legislation, such as the CLD regulations (2013), require public authorities to support community groups to participate and to achieve change. The provision of space to work from would be a great start, particularly since many public buildings have available space which could be provided to community groups at little or no cost.
Diverging priorities?
The level of the challenge is reinforced by the findings of a survey carried out by Communities Channel Scotland in 2020. Public bodies and community organisations taking part in the survey were asked to priotise a list of more than 20 different commitments that could be made as part of a Social Impact Pledge. Whereas 36% of community organisations put ‘use of facilities by community groups and organisations’ in their top five useful commitments, only 15% of public bodies did the same.
Our survey also found that community organisations were more likely than public bodies to see the value of commitments that had a practical and meaningful benefit for community groups and democratic participation. Going forward, if public bodies make this type of commitment as part of their pledge, this will help them to practice what they preach in terms of community empowerment.
So well done to public bodies who are leading the way here, and let’s see more organisations follow suit.
Further info:
The Social Impact Pledge is a Scottish Government initiative aimed at increasing the social impact of public sector organisations across Scotland. Public sector organisations pledge to increase their social impact by making a public commitment to changing three aspects of their current operations or policies. For more information, and to see existing pledges to communities across Scotland, visit the dedicated Social Impact Pledge section of Communities Channel Scotland.
Download the report from Communities Channel Scotland’s 2020 survey.
Scottish Community Development Centre (SCDC) promotes and supports community development activity across Scotland. SCDC maintains and manages the Communities Channel Scotland website.
If you have any questions or suggestions, or are a public body seeking to make a Social Impact Pledge, please get in touch.
