Our expert training series highlights big issues for community businesses
At Plunkett UK, we are dedicated to promoting diversity and inclusion in our efforts to support new and existing community businesses throughout the UK. Our ambition is to reach areas where community ownership is underrepresented in order to address social and economic deprivation and other hidden needs, such as poor mental health, loneliness and isolation that exists in rural areas. We want to encourage community businesses to create welcoming and inclusive spaces that inspire and engage others.
Our online training programme, ‘Creating Inclusive Spaces,’ offers a platform for individuals to enhance their skills, gain knowledge, and connect with experts and fellow community businesses. This programme will give those insights on how to foster inclusivity within their businesses, offering a more diverse and welcoming environment for all.
You can find details of each training webinar in this series on our dedicated ‘Events’ page.
Laura Olver, Membership & Training Manager at Plunkett UK says:
“Community businesses are most impactful, and successful, when they welcome and include the full breadth of their diverse communities. This powerful series raises awareness of differences and challenges faced by people in communities nationwide, and helps prompt inspiration on how to ensure your business is as inclusive as possible.”
Laura, who is a Committee Member at Appleton Community Shop, adds:
“My community shop benefits from being pretty inclusive already and we’re delighted to welcome volunteers and customers with challenges such as extreme anxiety, caring responsibilities, dementia and learning difficulties. We’d love to ensure we are as inclusive as possible for all those in our community, so I’m really pleased Plunkett UK is helping raise awareness of differences and challenges in every community and how to ensure community businesses really do reflect the people they serve.”
Our Creating Inclusive Spaces series is made up of four online (via zoom) training sessions, which are free for Plunkett members and £18 for non-members. These sessions will give you the opportunity to network with others whilst hearing from experts on each topic, which are listed below:
- 1
Making your community business dementia inclusive
- 2
Providing opportunities in your community business for those with neurodiversity
- 3
Providing opportunities for care leavers within your community business
- 4
Raising awareness of domestic abuse
Making your community business dementia inclusive
Tuesday 17 September, 10am-11am
In the first edition of this webinar series, this session provided practical advice about making your community business more dementia friendly. There are currently 900,000 people in the UK living with dementia, so staying active and being involved in the community helps people live well with the disease.
Your business could become part of the movement of caring, inclusive places that ensure that those with dementia don’t feel excluded or marginalised, but can remain embedded and active in their communities.
The session included an expert speaker from the Alzheimer’s Society, as well as an architect who has worked on making businesses more accessible for those with the disease, and a representative of an Oxfordshire Community Pub with plans to ensure their pub is dementia-friendly.
This event has now finished!
For Community Business Members: If you would like to access the recording and resources from this event, you can access these on the Membership hub.
If you aren’t a member, become a member here!
Providing opportunities in your community business for those with neurodiversity
Wednesday 16 October, 10am-11:30am
15-20% of the whole population are neurodivergent meaning they process information in less typical ways compared to ‘the norm’; they are specialist thinkers. This can be due to ADHD, Dyslexia, Autism, anxiety, depression, acquired brain injury, stroke or long covid and more…
Understanding and accommodating those with differences into your business, whether as volunteers, staff or customers, is a key way to ensure your business really does reflect the full community. Come along to this informative webinar to understand more about neurodivergence from Emily Edwards, who brings her lived experience as a late diagnosed Autistic ADHDer and to hear from Fordhall Farm, a community owned farm about their inspiring efforts to ensure that everyone is included.
This event has now finished!
For Community Business Members: If you would like to access the recording and resources from this event, you can access these on the Membership hub.
If you aren’t a member, become a member here!
Raising awareness of domestic abuse
Thursday 28 November, 2pm-3:30pm
Research shows that rural dwellers are 50% less likely to disclose domestic abuse and stay in situations approximately 25% longer than urban dwellers. Plunkett UK is partnering with Oxfordshire-based charity ‘Reducing the Risk’ to deliver this training, focussing on how community-owned businesses can support victims of domestic abuse by knowing the signs and services that can help
Want to get FREE tickets to training events like these?
Then become a member today! Tickets for these events are FREE for all Plunkett UK members, but for non-members, entry will cost £18.
If you share our vision of diverse and inclusive community businesses, why not become a member?
Your membership, which for individuals’ costs just £20 per year, will support this ambition and to grow the community ownership movement across the nation.
