Rhondda Community Business Initiatives Ltd

	About the Sponsors
	Rhondda Community Business Initiatives (RCBI) was incorporated as a company limited by guarantee (No. 248952) in March 1990. It works very closely as a partner organisation with Rhondda Community Development Association (RCDA). Whereas RCDA operates as an association of local organisations, RCBI is a membership organisation open to all members of the community. It manages a community cinema/theatre, and has successfully managed several sizeable capital projects. It has also successfully managed several community enterprise training projects, and has worked in partnership with the local authority and local further education college. The shared aims of RCBI and RCDA are: To develop and support local initiatives To build international links through youth and community enterprises To develop mechanisms for employment To help to regenerate communities To raise levels of skill To contribute to community and social wealth The Rhondda Community Regeneration Grid is a EU funded Objective One project to improve community capacity.
	Modes of Operation
	The main strengths of RCDA and RCBI are the motivation, commitment and strength of purpose of the core of people at the heart of each organisation, allied to the breadth of expertise contained within their constituent memberships. Added to this can be the amount of experience and expertise accumulated over a considerable number of years of supporting and developing community initiatives. Cost effectiveness, contacts and influence are also undoubted strengths. RCBI's coordinating and networking activities allow it to draw upon a considerable depth of ability. It also provides the facility for taking an informed strategic overview across the whole of its area of operation. RCBI has always aimed to be a catalyst and innovator. Every initiative taken or supported over a long span of years has involved a process of (a) listening and consulting (b) joining or forming partnerships (c) acting or enabling others to act.
	A Blueprint for Action
	Town Planning Consultancy Ltd. (TPC) were comissioned by Rhondda Cynon Taff County Borough Countil (RCT) on 30 November 1998 to undertake the development of a Community Action Plan for Pentre and Ton Pentre. TPC assembled a team of expert consultants for the commission that included Community Enterprise Wales and Paul Burke. The commission emerged from a successful Eurpoean ERDF bid and RCT's recognition that a community led approach to regeneration was the most effective and sustainable method of achieving action in Pentre and Ton Pentre. The principal objective of the commission was to identify a programme of relevant and achievable actions that would be supported and could be funded and implemented by the community in a sustainable manner that would achieve long-term benefits. Since the presentation of the Comminuty Action Plan in 1999, a series of related developments have taken place. Community groups, schools and other agencies active in the area, accepted the plan as a blueprint for further action. A community partnership was set up including local authority representatives, agencies and schools, built around the community networking capabilities of Rhondda Community Development Association. Various projects were identified and brought forward for inclusion in the Action Plan. An Objective One application 'The Rhondda Community Regeneration Grid' was devised to underpin a future method of working. Rhondda Community Business Initiatives Ltd. was nominated as the lead body in this application because of its experience and previous involvement in European funded projects. Approval of this scheme was finally received in March 2002. The project was set up to run Neighbourhood Regeneration Centres at Pentre Primary School in the targeted Priority Three area of Pentre, Ysgol Gynradd Gymraeg Bronllwyn in the targeted area of Ystrad, and Llwynypia and Mid Rhondda Boys' and Girls' Club for the areas of Llwynypia and Tonypandy. They were manned by support workers and volunteers to the public for a minimum of 20 hours per week and had the benefit of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) links immediately accessible to members of the public. The central office was to be in the Phoenix Centre, Ton Pentre. The project was approved by the Rhondda Cynon Taff Strategic Renewal Partnership, effectively extending the area of operation of the original Pentre and Ton Pentre Action Plan to include Pentre, Ystrad, Llwynypia and Tonypandy.