SAVE THE DATE : 24th October 2019 

In our hands: creating policy and practice to enable community business to thrive in Liverpool City Region

Join Power to Change for a day of debate to strengthen collaboration across the community business movement and the public sector in Liverpool City Region (LCR).

Power to Change is hosting the ‘In our Hands’ conference in partnership with Wirral Council. We will be bringing together community business leaders, policy makers, business advisors and public sector officers from the Local and Combined Authorities to debate and agree ways of working together on priority areas including procurement, community buildings and spaces and future funding models for community business.

 The Conference will offer the chance to:

• Hear real-life examples of how Local Authorities and community businesses are working together in LCR,
• Create new and deepen existing partnerships between the public sector and community businesses across the city region,
• Explore the value the community business sector has to offer, and encourage local government and community businesses to find new ways of working together,
• Enable community businesses to input into and advocate for the local policy that affects them

Format of the day - 

• Registration from 10am with the conference taking place between 10.30am – 4pm.
• Opportunity to attend two topic workshops in the morning and afternoon, led by experts in the field.
• Networking with community business leaders and public sector representatives.
• Complimentary lunch and refreshments provided by Squash Nutrition 
• Guest Speakers from Power to Change and Wirral Council.
• Capacity: The Public Services Lab; Wirral Chamber of Commerce; Community Action Wirral. 

Background to the conference - 

The ‘In our Hands’ conference is part of Power to Change’s continuing commitment to the community business movement in the City Region to support the growth of the movement, and through it transform places and make the case for community business.

The ‘In our Hands’ conference has been arranged based on recent research and feedback from community business leaders via Power to Change's Liverpool City Region programme. This conference is free of charge to invited participants. It is partly funded by Power to Change and elements of the event are provided on an in-kind basis by Wirral Council.

The conference will be of interest to - 

• Local authority leaders
• Community businesses
• Local and combined authority economic policy and regeneration officers
• Local authority officers responsible for commissioning and procurement, or transferring assets to communities
• Voluntary sector leaders interested in supporting community business
• Local Enterprise Partnership and Chambers of Commercefrom across Liverpool City Region.