The CED Project Brief…
BACKGROUND:
In February 2010 Di co-hosted the Community Economic Development Conference (CED) in Auckland. This conference was the first of its kind in New Zealand. It was aimed at building an increasingly strong and resilient community sector through introducing the concepts of social enterprise, social finance and community assets to enable community organisations to become more entrepreneurial and develop independent income streams, and so reducing their reliance on government grants.
From this first conference, A CED Conference Network is currently being established to continue the momentum from the conference. CED is in a formative phase of development - although a very successful conference has provided a strong base to build on. The shape and detail of the CED Network is relatively undefined at this stage and is likely to remain fluid for a few months.
The CED Network is sitting under the umbrella of Community Waitakere who has accessed funds from the ASB Trust to enable Di to progress this work. Di is experienced in initiating and managing collaborative community projects – but needs upskilling in web based skills and social networking.
OBJECTIVES:
What CED Network would like to achieve during the yMedia Challenge is;
1. To gain clarity about their branding. They are currently named CED Network but ranges of options are being explored – including staying with the status quo.
2. To establish a web presence that connects and the people who attended the conference, and others interested in CED and to learn enough about the web and social networking to maintain a web presence that maximises participation and communication.
3. Connecting, linking and raising awareness around community economic development including social enterprise, social finance and strengthening place based community development.
KEY MESSAGE:
The most important message that the CED Network wants to communicate is that community sectors can move beyond grant dependence by developing independent income streams.
TONE:
The CED Network wants to sound creative, innovative and collaborative.
TARGET AUDIENCE:
The most important people for CED Network to communicate with are people social entrepreneurs who are active in their communities and people from the community sector and local councils interested in community economic development, including funders and social lending institutions. Government and the private sector are also stakeholders.
TIMINGS:
An important date of an event, or activity that should be taken into consideration is February 2011. CED is considering having another gathering then, but that decision is yet to be finalised.
MANDATORIES:
It must be taken into consideration that the CED Network is emergent and relatively undefined at this stage. There is substantial community support for the initiative including some strong-minded community activists involved in an advisory capacity. Di and her team are still sorting out how decisions are made. While this is happening, Di is making the calls with advice and support from key people in the sector. Focus groups to inform some of the key decision-making are being considered for this early stage of development.
WHAT CED NETWORK IS HOPING TO GET OUT OF yMEDIA THIS YEAR:
Resolve the branding, develop a flexible web presence that enables information sharing, pointers to resources and participation from our “community”.
Connecting, linking and raising awareness around community economic development including social enterprise, social finance and strengthening place based community development.
