Building Enterprising Communities
As an open, accessible and inclusive community space, libraries are increasingly being recognised as crucial hubs within the community, offering far more than ‘just books’ to local residents. With activities and learning on offer for both children and adults, and as a key resource centre, the importance of local libraries continues to evolve and grow, particularly in difficult economic times.
The recent recession has highlighted the importance of libraries and the value of community interaction for the adult population and those seeking employment. Emerging as a space in which those who have been negatively impacted by job cuts or redundancies can search and apply for jobs, libraries also present a community location that can provide structure, contact and access to learning - without the labels, intrusion or assumptions of other centres.
Recognising the importance of these areas, and shortly after the opening of the new Houghton Regis library, the Building Enterprising Communities (BEC) project has been working with local libraries in order to ensure that programme delivery reaches those who will most benefit from the funding. Designed to support individuals within Bedfordshire to access employment via self employment, and overcome barriers to economic activity, the BEC project is all about bringing enterprise back into the community – and the libraries are a great way of achieving this.
For BEC Project Manager, Anne Stilton, working with existing community centres is key to both the success of the project, and to supporting sustainable community engagement. Delivering the first BEC workshop within the library was therefore a fitting opportunity – and responded to a need that Anne had identified after visiting the library during Enterprise week as part of her economic engagement activity.
With the emphasis on bringing learning and information to the community, and a commitment to responsive and flexible delivery, Anne identified a number of individuals who visited the library on a regular basis as part of their job seeking activities and would benefit from Exemplas’ ‘Removing Barriers to Progression’ workshop, a CBT based initiative supporting participants to overcome their barriers in order to achieve their aspirations.
Working with library manager, Sue Styant, Anne identified an appropriate date for workshop delivery, and also invited project partner, Wenta, to the afternoon session in order to provide some expert one on one enterprise coaching to those who expressed an interest in self employment.
Attended by 9 delegates who had been out of work for varying lengths of time, the workshop provided a fantastic opportunity, not only for participants to extend their learning – “different methodologies, tools and thinking processes” – but also to develop confidence and start forming connections with other members of the community: [I will] “keep reading, learning and networking” (course delegate).
For Anne, these relationships were an unexpected but invaluable outcome of the session: “it was really powerful to see a group that had been working alongside each other without exchanging words for so many weeks, actually coming together and supporting each other in talking through their experiences, difficulties and hopes.” Similarly, Steve Pryor from Wenta, the local enterprise agency, observed an atmosphere that is often aspired towards but can be harder to create: “a friendly environment where participants considering self employment were made aware of the considerable help available to them.”
Identifying barriers to employment is about developing the trust and confidence to talk through what’s holding you back. Through carrying out this work within a known and familiar environment, the workshop was better able to support delegates in sharing their experiences – “I can identify my barriers more concisely now … the biggest barrier is myself and being able to admit that and move on is great” (course delegate) – and, consequently, inject enthusiasm and motivation back into the community.
With participants referred on to specialist business advice, if requested, and enabled to continue supporting each other as a group; the relationships that have been developed within the library and through this workshop, will continue long beyond the project lifespan, and promise to bring wider benefits as the participants develop the confidence to realise their potential: “with the exchange of contact numbers and the engagement of library staff, the idea of bringing enterprise into the community could not have been better realised.” (Anne Stilton)