At a recent visit to one of our Community Micro-Enterprise projects in the North West, Gary Cliffe, who leads Cheshire West Voluntary Action told me frankly that he'd been sceptical of the council bringing Community Catalysts into the area to develop new enterprises, because he couldn’t see what we’d be able to do to increase choices for Direct Payment holders that local VCFSE organisations and infrastructure bodies couldn’t do themselves.

At a recent visit to one of our Community Micro-Enterprise projects in the North West, Gary Cliffe, who leads Cheshire West Voluntary Action told me frankly that he'd been sceptical of the council bri...

There is some great community development work out there which gets alongside people as they start and build new community activities and resources. There is also some great strengths-based coaching and support programmes, and some great strategic transformation projects aiming to embed prevention and neighbourhood working. Perhaps what makes Local Area Coordination (LAC) unique is that it attempts to bring those three things together.

Reflecting on Local Area Coordination Week, Alex Fox, CEO at Community Catalysts, speaks about what makes the approach different and unique from other community based initiatives.

Sustainability considerations are increasingly important in both public and private sector supply chains, says Sandra Hamilton.

Phil Holmes' powerful first speech as ADASS President at the ADASS Spring Seminar 2026.

How do we build community cohesion — especially at a time when inequality, mistrust, segregation, and the loss of shared spaces are pulling communities apart?   That’s the question a group of Local Ar...

(I was not aware when writing this blog of this 2005 paper by Peter Bates which has a similar theme and which draws on In Praise of Slow by Carl Honore, also new to me. Some ideas percolate, well, …

The Neighbourhoods for Living Well event with the UK National Innovation Centre for Ageing brought people together to hear about innovative solutions available to help build strong neighbourhoods wher...

The story of one woman's journey to setting up a Suffolk community micro-enterprise that makes a big difference to people in the local community.