In Summer of 2023, Capacity successfully tendered a piece of work with St Helens Council. The ambition of this work was to co-produce a new vision for adult social care in the borough.
Here at Capacity, we often have the chance to work with some incredible organisations, making real change for local people. Local Solutions are just one of the organisations that we had the opportunity to work with last year. Providing support to individuals, families and communities experiencing disadvantage, exclusion and vulnerability across the Liverpool City Region and Wales, Local Solutions have recently celebrated their 50th anniversary and have touched the lives of countless people.
Throughout 2024, we were able to provide bespoke support some incredible local, social-purpose organisations through our Social Climbers programme, which is all about supporting social enterprises and charities to amplify the impact of their work.
Based in Birkenhead, Open Door Charity is a multi-award-winning Wirral-based resource by young people, for young people. Open Door delivers a range of services that support the wellbeing and mental health of young people and families, using innovation, arts and culture as a catalyst for change. Since 2022, we’ve been working with Open Door Charity to make their vision of transforming the Treasury Annexe building in Birkenhead into a space to create Joy a reality.
‘Wellbeing’ has become a bit of a buzzword in public services, with data and information around wellbeing being increasingly used by by services, politicians and commissioners to make decisions about communities. The problem is, the metrics that are used to measure wellbeing are often designed by academics and policymakers. So, when we talk to communities about wellbeing, it can be hard to tell if we’re all talking about the same thing.
In early 2019, the Capacity Team sat down with Wirral Council’s Early Help leads to kick off a new project to truly shift how the borough approached support for local families. This project was based around one key insight: the last thing a parent wants (or needs) when things get tough is a knock on the door from a social worker.