Bristol has landed a share of a new £33million investment fund aimed at tackling inequality.
The Local Access funding, from social investment foundation Access and independent social investment institution Big Society Capital, will support charities and social enterprises in the city to grow the social economy.
Organisations including investment company Bristol and Bath Regional Capital; social enterprise charity Voscur; race equality organisation Black South West Network; community charity Quartet Community Foundation; and the School for Social Entrepreneurs (Dartington) worked together to bid for the finance.
The partnership is now working with Access and Big Society Capital to refine their plans with the aim of launching in the second half of this year.
"This investment is a major vote of confidence in Bristol’s growing social economy," said Sandra Meadows, chief executive of Voscur. "We believe that a thriving social enterprise sector is crucial to tackling social, environmental and economic inequalities in Bristol.
"We want to maximise the value of local assets and use these investments to help communities, residents, leaders and businesses work together to achieve a more equitable city.”
This is the second major investment in Bristol's social economy in the last six months, following a £10million raise by Bristol-based funding vehicle City Funds.
Seb Elsworth, chief executive of Access, said: “We all know charities and social enterprises do good work in our communities, but the sector’s power as an economic force, one which can help reshape local economies and in so doing tackle the most entrenched inequality, is often overlooked.
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"We are delighted to be working with Bristol to help them to realise this potential and grow their local social economy through the tools of enterprise support and access to investment through blended finance.”
Cliff Prior, chief executive of Big Society Capital, added: “Where you were born should not affect your opportunity to live a happy and fulfilling life.
"But there are many areas in the 海角视频 that have experienced high levels of deprivation for many years, and even in relatively prosperous areas there can be pockets that reveal huge levels of inequality.
"We believe the Local Access programme offers an innovative approach to levelling up the disparity between places through developing the social economy.
"Crucially it is a pilot programme, and so we look forward to gathering the learning emerging from each of the places as the programme progresses.”