Discussions with departments from the new government are coming thick and fast. The last two weeks have seen meetings with representatives from the Department of Education and the Department of Culture, Media and Sport.
Several representatives from the Department for Communities and Local Government also met with Ambassadors at Dr Sam Everington’s Bromley by Bow Centre where they talked about the role of social enterprise in delivering public services for communities across the country. Dr Sam also met separately with the Department of Health to discuss primary care commissioning.
At the end of June, five ambassadors attended the Social Enterprise All Party Parliamentary Group at the House of Commons. And, earlier this week, a large group of ambassadors met with the Big Society Network to discuss how they can support the Network in promoting active citizenship and shifting more power to communities. 
And Daniel Heery and the team at Cybermoor have been celebrating after being
awarded the Access Innovation Award at the Ispa Internet Awards. The prize was in recognition of the success of Cybermoor’s social enterprise approach to bringing accessible broadband to rural Cumbria.
The value of mentoring
The special one-off mentoring sessions won by aspiring and established social enterprises are continuing , with Sophi Tranchell mentoring Ingrid Vercruyssen, the creative drive behind Lilou, a colourful fair trade fashion brand.
Martin Kinsella recently spent his two hours with Cathy Eastburn, founder of Good Vibrations, which runs music workshops in prisons. After their meeting Cathy said:
“I found it an incredibly useful session - in particular having the chance to talk about making an economic case for what we do, demonstrating impact, how P3 has managed to preserve its core values while expanding and taking on big contracts, and possible opportunities for Good Vibrations to get itself included in the commissioning process. 
I have no doubt that I will look back on those two hours as one of those key moments that help move Good Vibrations forward.“
As well as mentoring, Midlands-based ambassador Jean Jarvis has been instrumental in getting many, many young businesses in Shropshire on their way to becoming social enterprises.
Her enterprise, South Shropshire Furniture Scheme, with help from local councils and support agency Midwest Rural Enterprise, has just run its first motivational conference for local businesses and fledgling social enterprises.
Inspire Shropshire, held at Craven Arms Community Centre on 18 June saw nearly 70 delegates, as well as a range of exhibitors, receive useful advice on legal structures, marketing, budgeting, commercial contracting, HR issues, innovation and social media.
“Delegates included representatives from the private sector and government and there was lots of very positive feedback about how useful it was. One private sector senior manager said the event helped him understand how really good social enterprises work and that he would be encouraging all the smaller organisations he deals with to adopt these strategies,” said the ambassador.
The seeds that the ambassador has planted to grow social enterprise in Shropshire are coming to fruition. There is real commitment locally to continue the social enterprise buzz and thanks to many new connections made on the day, the future of the movement in Shropshire is very strong and bright indeed.
