CREATE

50 mile challenge

Thu, 22 Jul 2010 11:58:00 +0100

Work is about more than earning money. It is about inspiration, purpose, value and belonging. Inspired by their experience of working together the team from CREATE Potential in Leeds have embarked on a 50 mile canoe challenge at Pugneys Lake, Wakefield on July 28^th.

Create Potential is an innovative, personalised employment support scheme giving real work experience, accredited training and support to those who have been marginalised or experienced homelessness or rough sleeping. This 12 week course encompasses time spent in Create’s businesses which are catering, retail or warehouse distribution – the stuff that really means something on a CV- as well as a focus on employability, aiming to put the learners ahead of the game when it comes to getting a job.

Leroy Smedley is Learning Lead at the new academy and has been blown away by the enthusiasm of the group who are keen to set a high standard for those that follow.

“Team working is an important part of working life so we set a task for half way through the course but the group themselves came up with the idea of a canoe – even though no one had done it before. Now that’s what I call a proper challenge!”

This group want to raise money for Create Foundation, the social enterprise running the academy so that the funds will help the future academy learners get back to work.

“It’s touching that this group are already thinking of others who will benefit from the Academy and that they will leave a legacy of support. It’s a real tribute to the spirit of the group and how hard they are prepared to work.”

The Academy team are looking for sponsorship support so put some pounds on their paddles and help them get around the lake a lot faster by sponsoring them, contact us through the Contact Us page or call us on 0113 394 6120 to find out how you can help.

CREATING better futures - again!

Wed, 07 Jul 2010 11:05:00 +0100

CREATE has scooped yet another top award at this weeks CREATING Better Futures Award in Leeds.

The awards, which were handed out at the Leeds City Museum this week to recognise partnerships that benefit communities throughout the region.

CREATE launched the FOUND by CREATE boutique after being approached by Laurie Barton Bright, Manager of the St John’s Centre, about filling a retail unit left empty during the recession.

FOUND by CREATE is a shop with a difference, where shoppers can buy quality and desirable designer clothing and accessories for a fraction of their original selling price. Staff at the shop will be more than happy to provide a free personal shopping service to help shoppers put outfits together.

The shop features quality high street items and the dress agency will have designer items from a variety of sought after labels including work wear, day wear and evening wear, handbags, shoes, belts and scarves.

As part of CREATE’S commitment to enterprise and excellence they also showcase many of the regions up and coming designers in our store and online. To find more about the shop click here.

Sarah Dunwell, Chief Executive Officer at the CREATE Foundation, said: “CREATE is delighted to have won this award. We believe that social enterprise is able to pioneer solutions for some of the most difficult and entrenched problems in society. We are proud of our work in Yorkshire and our partnership with the St John’s Centre and being recognised in the region as part of a movement that is all about creating better futures for all.”

To find out more about the award go to Yorkshire Forward’s site to see all the winners and the great work Yorkshire Forward are doing in the region.

Wonderful Wednesday in Wakefield

Thu, 01 Jul 2010 14:43:00 +0100

Three weeks into the very first Create Potential Academy and we find there really is no end to the students’ talents as they took to canoeing at Pugneys – well, like ducks to water actually!

The beautiful never ending sunshine made us all believe we were on Lake Maggiore instead of Wakefield and after a quick fix picnic and with no hesitation, Team Create donned the life jackets and climbed into their appointed rafts. It was apparently a first for everyone – and some don’t even swim, how courageous is that?

Only Dawit and Negussu remained dry throughout the canoe challenge which is attributed not only to their skills with the oars but perhaps more their wisdom to avoid getting anywhere near the rest of the team. The heat of the day demanded a dipping – and they all got one.

Sopping (most) fearless (all), Team Create members left Pugneys Park pink (in places) but very, very proud.

For more information and pictures go to out FACEBOOK lpage and see more of the great day...

Cabinet Minister visits award-winning social enterprise

Wed, 30 Jun 2010 12:26:00 +0100

The Minister for the Cabinet Office, Francis Maude, today visited CREATE, a social enterprise in Leeds, to see first hand how they are already embracing the principles of Big Society by giving skills training, work experience and real employment opportunities to vulnerable and homeless people.

Francis Maude said:

“Big Society is all about local people being empowered to bring about the changes they know their community needs – doing things for themselves and each other. I would like to see many many more people giving their time and energy to make positive changes in their community and to encourage people we are making it easier to set up and run a charity, social enterprise or voluntary organisation.

“CREATE is a really impressive social enterprise that has changed the lives of many vulnerable and homeless people in Leeds, Bradford and Doncaster. They are not only a profitable business but they have also identified a social problem in their community and acted to improve it.”

On his visit to ‘Found’, CREATE’s boutique shop which sells high quality donated high street items and retro fashion, the Minister toured the shop and met with staff and students from CREATE’s Potential Employment academy to hear how the business has helped them.

CREATE’s newly opened pre-employment training academy, Create Potential, will help even more people who were formerly homeless and rough sleepers into employment by giving them a mixture of real work experience in one of CREATE’s businesses, alongside accredited training and support to get a job and stay in employment. The academy will secure employment for 60 people in its first year.

Sarah Dunwell, Chief Executive Officer of CREATE, said:

“CREATE is passionate about working at the cutting edge of a big society where the government, charities, social enterprise and corporate partners work in robust and trusting relationships to deliver real social change. Big problems need big solutions and no one sector has the monopoly on being part of that solution. CREATE Potential builds on our business success and will increase the impact of our social success”

CREATE, which was established in 2007 in response to the growing number of homeless people in Leeds, now consists of three catering companies, five cafes and ‘Found’ a boutique shop across sites in Leeds, Bradford and Doncaster. CREATE have created 44 full time, permanent jobs for those who were vulnerable or at risk. They recently won the Trailblazing Newcomer of the Year award in the RBS Social Enterprise 100 highest growth social enterprise awards.

Image courtesy of Mark Skeet Photography

Top Marks for business

Fri, 18 Jun 2010 16:03:00 +0100

The CREATE Foundation has today been awarded the Social Enterprise Mark, which identifies them as trading for social and environmental purposes.

The Social Enterprise Mark is the brand for social enterprises and was launched 1st February, 2010. The Mark identifies businesses which meet defined criteria for social enterprise, and consumers will recognise that businesses displaying the Mark are trading to benefit people and planet.

CREATE joins a distinguished group of nationally recognised ethical businesses that have been awarded the Mark such as the Eden Project and the Big Issue. The Social Enterprise Mark builds off the pilot run by RISE, the voice for South West social enterprise.

Government data estimates that there are 62,000 social enterprises across the UK, contributing £24 billion to the economy and employing around 800,000 people.

Recent research found that social enterprises are twice as confident of growth compared to typical small to medium enterprises (SMEs), with 48% of social enterprises saying they are positive about the future as opposed to just 24% of SMEs (The Social Enterprise Coalition’s State of Social Enterprise Survey 2009).

Social enterprises are working to make a difference across the UK and beyond, but not enough people know what they are or how they work. The Social Enterprise Mark aims to raise awareness of what social enterprises do in order to get more people to buy from, engage with, start up and work for social enterprises.

Sarah Dunwell said, “We’re really proud to have been awarded the Social Enterprise Mark. CREATE is absolutely committed to supporting sustainable businesses and consequently helping local communities to thrive and prosper”.

Lucy Findlay champion from the Social Enterprise Mark Company (manager of the Mark),

"With more and more opportunities opening up every day for social enterprises to deliver health services, the Social Enterprise Mark has an important role to play in helping people understand when their health provider is genuinely socially motivated. The Social Enterprise Mark will be available across the country and we hope its the next 'Fair Trade'-type success story in helping people buy in a more ‘ethical’ way."

find out more about the social enterprise mark here, or watch the video.

National Award wininer

Fri, 11 Jun 2010 10:59:00 +0100

The Create Foundation last night scooped a national prize as the ‘Trailblazing Newcomer’ at the SE 100 Awards in London. The RBS SE100 – similar to the FTSE100 - is an essential new tool that charts the growth and impact of organisations that deliver social, economic or environmental change.

The Create Foundation is a social enterprise based in Leeds which runs a catering company, four cafés, a warehouse distribution operation and a retro and ‘pre-loved’ clothing boutique.

Established in 2007 this community interest company was set up in response to the growing number of homeless people across Leeds. CEO, Sarah Dunwell says: “We set up Create in order to provide offer skills training, work experience and real employment opportunities for people who have been homeless, marginalised or vulnerable.”

“Create exists to support vulnerable and chaotic adults back to work,” she adds. In doing so it builds community cohesion, reduces crime, nurtures entrepreneurial spirit and ensures the sustenance of the local and social economy.

Create Food was the company’s first enterprise and is staffed by people from vulnerable backgrounds. Soon after, Café Create was established, offering employees ‘front of house’ training in a busy retail environment and there are 3 cafes in Leeds and one in Bradford. Following these successes, Found by Create, a boutique style charity shop selling vintage and pre-loved clothes was opened in October 2009 in the St John’s Centre in central Leeds which recently won a highly coveted Purple Apple marketing award, one of only three given nationwide, likened to ‘Oscar of the shopping centres.’

Create also operates as an independent FareShare franchise, redistributing surplus food to disadvantaged communities in the West Yorkshire area. All the profits from Found by Create go towards supporting the FareShare charity.

Since September 2007 Create has trained 32 people in food hygiene, 18 in literacy and numeracy and 12 in money skills. The social enterprise has created 44 full-time, permanent jobs for people who were vulnerable or at risk and works with 70 volunteers who are making the transition into full-time employment. Create supplies an average of 50 meals each day to each of its FareShare members, feeding more than 1,200 vulnerable people per week – and preventing around 20 tonnes of food each month from going to landfill.

It is a combination of rapid but sustainable growth, effective social impact measurement and far reaching ambition that makes this social enterprise truly worthy to be seen as a trailblazing champion.

By 2012 the company intends to provide 50 full-time jobs across its businesses and develop 20 new business centres in other areas of the country, each employing at least 10 people.

Create will continue to blaze a trail when it opens an innovative, pre-employment training academy, Create Potential in Leeds on June 14^th 2010, securing a further 60 people each year into external employment. The Create Potential Academy enjoys the support of Morrisons plc as anchor retail client who have committed to take on graduating students ready for work at their new store opening in Leeds, recruiting in the Autumn as well as campaign for other national retailers to support this initiative as it develops nationwide.
“We believe in social enterprise as a radical tool that not only benefits so many, but also changes perceptions of society at large,” says Norman Pickavance, Chair of Create Foundation and HR Director at Morrisons.

Sarah, says “Create’s growing success is due to the fact that the people who work for the company believe in what they are doing , many having experienced being homeless themselves.

The Nation's Top 100

Sat, 22 May 2010 10:50:00 +0100

The countdown has begun for releasing the names of the UK’s top 100 highest growth social businesses.

The RBS SE100 is the first index of its kind, charting the growth and social impact of social businesses across the UK.

The first RBS SE100 Data Report and the identities of our first SE100 Growth Champion and SE100 Impact Champion will be revealed at a special event on the evening of 9 June, in just in few weeks’ weeks.

Hosted at the Garden Museum in Lambeth, central London, more than 100 guests will be invited to the high profile celebration, including speakers from the worlds of big business, entrepreneurship, government and social investment.

Key statistics from the Index will be revealed alongside regional and sub-sector leaders. In addition to our Growth and Impact winners there will also be an award for the SE100 Trailblazing Newcomer - the start-up that has done the best job in the past year in terms of both impact measurement and business success.

With around 62,000 social enterprises in the UK, CREATE is proud to have been short listed with only three others for the Trailblazing Newcomer category. After rigorous analysis from some of Britain’s leaders is the field, CREATE has been recognised as one of the top four Social Enterprises who have delivered both in terms of financial growth and impact.

Sarah Dunwell, CEO of CREATE, comments, “this is an amazing privilege. To be short listed for a national award at such a significant time in the sector recognises the incredible work of a dedicated group of staff, and a staff team drawn largely from the most excluded group in society.”

Norman Pickavance, Chair of CREATE and Group HR Director of Morrison’s Supermarkets PLC, was delighted with the announcement. “In a growing sector CREATE is committed to leading the way in excellence and innovative solutions to society’s toughest problems. With our plans to develop our business in many other cities in the UK, the SE 100 demonstrates that great business and great social aims can go hand in hand”.

Marketing success

Thu, 13 May 2010 17:44:00 +0100

Charity boutique, FOUND by Create has scooped the Oscar of the shopping centres, bringing national success to The St Johns Centre in Leeds with the city’s first purple apple.

The British Council of Shopping Centres (BCSC) annual ‘Purple Apple Marketing Awards’ celebrated this year’s top shopping centre campaigns.

From over 120 entries across the UK only three Purple Apples – the very top prize- were awarded for imagination, innovation and excellence in shopping centre marketing. A proud winner, bringing recognition to Leeds, is the St Johns Centre for vintage boutique ‘FOUND by CREATE’.

FOUND, run by social enterprise CREATE, was developed through an innovative partnership with the St Johns Centre. The distinctive store not only sells gorgeous pre loved and vintage clothing but also provides skills training and employment for people who have been homeless.

Laurie Barton Wright, Centre Manager says, ‘St Johns are delighted to have been recognised at a national award event particularly when only three top awards were given out. It is an outstanding achievement and testimony to the hard work carried out by CREATE and the shopping centre working in partnership. Leeds has a reputation for independent retailing and we are glad to show the rest of the country that we are very much an innovative city’.

Sarah Dunwell, CEO at CREATE adds, “FOUND by CREATE is a great part of our social business. We deliver social change for the homeless community through innovative business solutions. It is great that this recognition by the marketing industry demonstrates that great business and great social values can be achieved together. Our staff love being recognised not just for delivering good charitable aims but a fantastic retail experience.”

To find out more call in and see the shop in the Lower Mall in the St John's Centre Leeds, or to find our more about the award click here…

Award for Excellence

Thu, 01 Apr 2010 10:46:00 +0100

After nearly a year of blood, sweat and tears CREATE and FareShare West Yorkshire have been nominated for the prestigious Award for Excellence in community re-cycling.

The 7th annual Awards for Excellence will take place on the 5th May 2010 at the Luxurious Landmark Hotel in London, close to Regents Park.The awards are renowned for showcasing innovation, dedication and success in recycling and waste management. Attendees will enjoy a champagne reception, three course meal and ceremony.

This years’ awards will be hosted by Huw Edwards, Broadcaster of the Ten O’Clock News with Jane Stephenson MBE, Chief Executive of Resource Futures as a guest speaker.

Feedback from 2009 awards was fantastic…

‘The Landmark was an excellent venue, the food was superb, there was a really good atmosphere and Dermot Murnaghan was great!’ Jeff Cooper, Vice President, International Solid Waste Association.

‘My thanks to everyone for a really enjoyable awards ceremony and lunch!’ Barbara Herridge, Policy and Development Manager, North London Waste Authority.

Charlie Wilkinson, Project Manager, was thrilled with the news of the nomination today. “Not only does this demonstrate our passion that no good food should be wasted, but also that the planet as well as people benefit.

FareShare West Yorkshire is operated by CREATE, which provides employment and training to homeless people in Leeds. Sarah Dunwell, CEO of CREATE, added “this nomination not only confirms the value of the project but also the value of the people who deliver the project. We are delighted with the nomination but also with the team who have made it possible."

For more information go to the website or check out the CREATE FARESHARE tab above…

Sharing the Success

Fri, 26 Mar 2010 23:18:00 +0000

CREATE were honoured today as an inspirational social enterprise as key note speakers at the Sharing the Success Awards in Leeds.

The awards, presented by the Rt Hon Hilary Benn MP, were hosted by Leeds Local Enterprise Growth Initiative and UnLtd. The awards, Sharing the Success, celebrated the work of local social enterprises in delivering transformative businesses in some of the most deprived and challenging areas of the city.

Sharing the Success is the title for the Leeds Local Enterprise Growth Initiative (LEGI). This programme has been created using government funding to help regenerate some areas within Leeds. It is sometimes also called Leeds LEGI.

The programme involves more than 30 partners who are delivering a number of excellent projects using enterprise to help boost prospects, create jobs and help develop new and existing businesses in Leeds.

For the past three years, UnLtd has partnered with the Leeds LEGI Sharing the Success Programme to support the development of social entrepreneurship across the most economically disadvantaged areas in Leeds.

The overall aim was to support the ideas of those who wanted to develop a social enterprise or community based project that would deliver social impact, encouraging those from some of the most deprived areas of Leeds to become more entrepreneurial, thus creating social and economic change.

At the end of the programme, over 70 Award Winners have been supported in setting up a diverse range of social ventures and community initiatives, more than 30 jobs have been created and we have invested over £260,000 of funding in the Leeds LEGI area.

Presenting the awards Hilary Benn praised those who were ‘do-ers and not just talkers’, those who had a vision for social change and made that vision a living reality. In the presence of some of the most innovative and driven social entrepreneurs in the region CREATE was chosen to deliver the key note address. Gary Stott and Sarah Dunwell shared the story of CREATE form one order for one sandwich platter to a business, three years later, that turns over a million pounds and employs over thirty people in Leeds, Bradford and Doncaster. Sharing their story of CREATE, Sarah Dunwell commented “it is a privileged to be in a room with so many inspiring people and even more of a privileged to be chosen as key note speakers for this event”.

CREATE continues to grow its work in the region and is about to open CREATE Potential its Employment Academy which will see 60 former homeless people into full time work in the first year.