Annual Impact Report 2024
The Community Impact Initiative C.I.C.
Catrin Evans talks about the Kickstarter project launched this year by the Scottish Empty Homes Partnership (SEHP) and The Community Impact Initiative C.I.C.
At the beginning of 2024, The Community Impact Initiative C.I.C. (Cii) received Kickstarter funding from the Scottish Empty Homes Partnership for our new project, Strong Foundations Scotland. The funding will allow us to deliver phase one of the project, during which we will lay all of the groundwork needed to bring our innovative empty homes regeneration projects from Wales to Scotland.
We are an established not-for-profit organisation with an excellent track record of delivering community-focused empty home regeneration projects. Our project tutors use each renovation to help local people experiencing social isolation and long-term unemployment to learn new skills, improve their wellbeing, achieve qualifications, and find a path to employment, or a future to look forward to. Since 2017, we have supported over 350 people and have brought ten long-term empty properties back into use.
Having decided to expand our reach into other parts of the UK, we liaised with the team at SEHP to discuss the idea of a Dundee-based project. Alongside the Cii team’s personal connection to Dundee, research brought to light several striking similarities between the Scottish city and the communities we support in South Wales.
As a result of this initial discussion, we applied to SEHP for Kickstarter funding to support the appointment of a full-time, Dundee-based development officer. This was the biggest leap yet towards our goal of starting a project in Scotland and a huge opportunity for us.
The project started on the 1st of May 2024 and progress has already been made in developing relationships with local organisations and the wider community.
Over the next year, the development officer will:
- Work to develop local partnerships
- Engage with and learn from the local community
- Use this learning and engagement to build a project framework
In year two of this project, the development officer will:
- Continue to develop community partnerships
- Secure major funding to deliver a multi-year empty homes regeneration project
- Create a detailed project plan and timeline
- Recruit the staff necessary to deliver the multi-year project
- Identify and purchase the first project property
A report will be published at the end of each year so that we can share our learning with other organisations working to regenerate communities across the UK.
It is our aim that by spring 2026, we will be ready to break ground on our first Strong Foundations Scotland empty homes regeneration project in Dundee. This work wouldn’t be possible without the support of the SEHP and we’re grateful to have been given the opportunity to develop this project thoroughly, in a way that provides the most benefit to the local community.