Community-led Economic Development

Working with local partners in the vibrant town of Bridport, the CED project estimated the potential value of re-localising the local economy, e.g. how many new jobs re-localised food, health & social care, and  construction sectors might produce.  As importantly, Community led Economic Development puts in place new ways of funding local people to take advantage of the opportunities to start community enterprises this work creates.

So, whether you are a community partnership or group, transition town group, or town council wanting to develop your own CED work,  come and join us and benefit from DCA’s expertise including:

• Our Independent facilitation and partnership coordination expertise, gained through DCA programmes such as our CLS project
• Develop your enterprise start up skills through accessing our network of expertise in alternative resourcing models e.g. Local Entrepreneur Forums, Soups, crowd funding etc
• Become better connected with like-minded people, through our developing county wide movement of social entrepreneurs
• Make better use of your collective resources, and create local ecosystems of support, by getting people to think of themselves as potential investors and social entrepreneurs.​​

For further details on our CED brief for work in Bridport: Community Economic Development Briefing document

​And for background on the CED process please see our report from the 7th December workshops: Building Bridport’s Entrepreneurial Economy

Our summary final report can be found here: ​Summary report – Bridport’s Community-led Economic Development process 2017

For more detailed reports on each of our three themes:

• Local Food Event report for 15th September 2016 local food stakeholder event, that considered obstacles and opportunities to shift towards an economy that better supports local residents and traders. Summary Report for ‘How Bridport Can Feed Itself’.  Main Report for ‘How Bridport Can Feed Itself’ and the theme group’s findings.
• Health & Social Care ​Caring Bridport Research​ paper setting out the theme group’s research objectives. Full report highlighting the ‘Caring Bridport’ theme group’s research and findings, including possible future projects and initiatives.
• Local Construction Materials Local Materials in Construction highlighting the economic and environmental considerations in using local materials in construction, highlighting potential future projects.

Have a look at a Community Toolbox of illustrated how-tos and articles to support community-led change here, produced by Bridport-based STIR to Action.