Why so few Social Firms in the North East?
I recently became a Director of Social Firms UK - the national umbrella body for social enterprise that creates paid employment for people with disabilities or other disadvantages in finding employment - and I was shocked to discover that there are only 2 full members and 2 associate members of Social Firms UK in the North East - far far fewer than most other regions.
Although my own work is largely outside the North East - and my role in Social Firms UK is mainly around national/international research into Social Firm development, rather than as a regional representative - something clearly needs to be done either to inspire local Social Firm projects or link them with the national/international movement.
We need to build up a picture of what the problem is in the North East - and how to solve it. To enable this I've created a Forum where we can share views at http://www.geofcox.info/index.php?q=node/107.