Coventry Community Empowerment Network c/o The Ricoh Arena Community Space Floor 1, Jewson Stand, Ricoh Arena Phoenix Way Foleshill Coventry CV6 6GE

The national story Community Empowerment Networks have been set up in 88 of the most deprived areas in the UK They support voluntary and community representation on Local Strategic Partnerships LSPs are partnerships of public, private, community and voluntary organisations working together to improve local life Coventry’s LSP is called the Coventry Partnership

Coventry CEN’s beginnings In 2001 the Government Office of the West Midlands approached Coventry Voluntary Service Council (CVSC) about setting up a community network A workshop in 2002 established aims for CEN and a Steering Group of community activists Coventry CEN has a strong community focus

Development of CEN Coventry CEN pioneered a ‘Community Advocate’ model This enabled the network to make an impact and establish membership quickly The Advocates represented CEN at the first Coventry Partnership meeting in Jan 2002

Development of CEN Now 15 representatives from CEN’s member groups represent community views across the Coventry Partnership, its theme groups and sub-groups The network’s development is driven by CEN’s Board of Directors and CEN’s member groups

CEN’s Aims To be a strong voice for communities and ensure effective representation To position the community at the heart of the decision-making chain To be the mechanism that brings all different groups together To be the first point of contact for community groups seeking help To be an independent and sustainable network

Structure and ethos CEN is a network of over 200 community and user-led groups It is charitable not for profit company limited by guarantee with a community led Board of Directors

CEN’s values CEN does not aim to speak as a single voice but to bring a genuine community perspective to partnership working and decision-making CEN’s values are to be inclusive to value the diversity of Coventry’s communities, to aim to reach consensus in decisions

Representation CEN has 5 places for reps on the Coventry Partnership and 2 places on each Theme Group Reps bring an informed community perspective to decision-making by: – flying the flag for community groups as ‘doers’ and ‘deliverers’ – challenging statutory providers to think about how they are engaging with communities -advocating for Coventry’s diverse and disadvantaged communities

Activities Conferences and training courses bring community groups together to network, learn with and from each other and develop a collective voice Information Fairs and single-issue workshops are an opportunity for community groups to engage with decision-makers on key issues Communication and information: CEN produces a regular newsletter, bulletins, photo-reports and has a website

CEN - the future Greater focus on neighbourhood-level working - CEN is developing a programme Community Information Fairs as well as Conferences, workshops, training courses both independently and with partners Building on community representation on the Coventry Partnership Supporting community groups to engage with Neighbourhood Management as well as the Coventry Partnership