Business and Community Engagement

Engaging your business with the local community offers many benefits for your staff, clients and community.  Enhancing your business’s local involvement and therefore exposure, will benefit your local staff recruitment, foster local networking and collaboration (including other businesses/suppliers/clients) and improve reputation and brand awareness.  Internally, your business can develop important staff skills such as teamwork, problem solving and communication and thereby improve staff morale, trust and respect and company pride.

The types of community engagement available to businesses are varied: sponsoring student training, engaging with supported employment opportunities for disadvantaged candidates, joint activity with non-profit organisations, staff volunteering, as well as donations of resources.

Some of the programmes and organisations that offer mutual benefits to local businesses and communities are listed below.

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Bedfordshire & Luton Community Foundation

Bedfordshire & Luton Community Foundation have been commissioned by Central Bedfordshire Council to deliver the UKSPF Culture Fund, a high-quality arts and culture grant scheme to support communities and deliver outcomes across Central Bedfordshire.

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Armed Forces Covenant

Ensuring those who serve or who have served in the armed forces, and their families, are treated fairly.

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Careers Transition Partnership

Providing access to leavers of the Armed Forces as they transition from the military and look to bring their skills into new jobs in civilian life.

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Healthy Workplace Award

The Healthy Workplace Award recognises and celebrates organisations across the East of England, who are committed to improving and maintaining a healthy and happy workplace.

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Care Leaver Covenant

The aim of the Care Leaver Covenant, to which organisations commit, is to provide additional support for those leaving care; making available a different type of support and expertise from that statutorily provided by local authorities.

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Supported Internships

Supported Internships are a structured study programme, designed to get 16-24- year old’s that have Special Educational Needs (SEND) as well as an Educational Health and Care Plan, into paid employment.

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Community Voluntary Service (CVS) Bedfordshire

CVS Bedfordshire encourages organisations in the local voluntary, community and social enterprise sector to work together, and in partnership with the public and private sector, to share knowledge and expertise.

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Community Catalyst

Community Catalysts help local entrepreneurs by providing a friendly point of contact to help people with good ideas to start, or expand, small businesses or community ventures to deliver personalised care and support services.