Wellbeing Cafe Evaluation Wellbeing cafe Introduction The Wellbeing café is one of 3 projects led by Metropolitan under the Activate banner that has extended beyond the original funding period. The purpose of the funding extension has been to enable a top to bottom review of the projects impact, to provide the café owner with business support and identify funding or partnering opportunities that will assist the café to continue as a business. Over a period of time, Rinova have carried out an assessment of the café, its surroundings and developed a plan to sustain this initiative beyond the period of funding. Metropolitan s Eat Wise Eat Well and Sports Entrepreneurs projects have thrived in an environment where existing provision is limited. The Wellbeing Café has been less fortunate, located in the Chalkhill area overlooking Wembley Stadium, and adjacent to a business park and College Of North West London, existing provision is plentiful. Located on the edge of the Chalkhill estate, it has a positive reputation with residents of the estate, but is out of sight to users in neighbouring areas, fast food providers McDonalds and Subway are within 500m and the main road also has two fried chicken businesses, fish and chip shop and various restaurants. So less healthy food options are readily available. The Well Being Café is situated in the foyer of the Chalk Hill Community Centre. It would at first appear that this café is set in a very favourable location, within an active community centre and central to an area of considerable residential and social housing. However, the reality is that there are a number of factors, which have made it difficult for the café to thrive in the way the extremely experienced and informed owner, Kwaku Appiah had hoped. The community centre is a new facility, built in the last phase of the Chalkhill Regeneration, a 12 year rebuilding programme that has transformed the area from a virtual no-go concrete construction brutal housing estate to a series of neat and well maintained brick built properties. The physical environment has been transformed although in part this masks some hidden issues of social deprivation. Chalkhill is part of the Kingsbury ward, an affluent ward, yet the estate itself is part of an area where employment levels are high and health levels low. The original decision by London Borough Of Brent to award Metropolitan the task of regenerating the area is acknowledgement that the estate required dramatic intervention, and support from the local authority continues, itself further acknowledgment that the many social issues require continued intervention to prevent a return to the previous state.
The Wellbeing Café, branded Taste Of Home, is run by social entrepreneur Kwaku Appiah, it has achieved a number of notable successes as well as other initiatives that have been less successful. Unlike other providers, Kwaku makes home cooked produce free of additives or preservatives, and provides affordable catering to the housing association, residents groups and Health Authority, all of whom are housed in the same building. Some initiatives have not worked, for example, offering free wi-fi and fair trade coffees did not create any increase in footfall, mainly due to the nearby College of North West London in-house subsidised provision of both refreshments and internet access. Above and beyond the café, Kwaku has excelled, notably healthy eating courses and placements for local people to undertake food hygiene certificates. Kwaku has responded positively to the new business opportunity to provide work placements and is developing is ability to offer apprenticeships via the Rinova group s Aspire 2 Skills Fund Agency / EU funded programme.
Rinova are a social enterprise offering business support to a number of like-minded organisations, including Metropolitan, Collage Arts, Hampstead College of Performing Arts and 15 Billion (formerly Connexions, East London), the group have evolved into a consortium, collectively bidding for public funds using Rinova s bid writing expertise and where successful, the organisation acts as project managers to allow the partners to focus on their specific areas of expertise. In 2012, 6 out of 6 bids for public funding were successful. This track record in has enabled a natural growth and expansion of partners, for example the Aspire 2 Apprenticeships programme includes the Princes Trust, and the London Borough of Wandsworth in a second SFA funded programme. Kwaku has good awareness of existing provision and therefore sought to provide an alternative service, something that is not already being offered nearby. Wellbeing Café achievements -- The Well Being Café has produced its own healthy eating brand A Taste of Home and produces a range of home-made preservative-free frozen ready meals. These are available throughout the day and proceeds are donated to Helping Hands International, which is a charity committed to building schools for rural areas in Ghana, West Africa. -- Well Being Café also uses the kitchen facilities to provide cooking classes targeted at young people, adults and delivers cross-cultural cooking classes for all ages. This project educated young people on preparing, easy, nutritious meals that can be replicated at home, encouraging young people to eat healthier meals. The project also offered young people the opportunity to gain a recognised qualification, which for some provides a foundation for a career in hospitality, but had beneficial effects on all participants in terms of increased confidence, self-esteem and general employability skills. -- The Café also promotes inter-generational activities around healthy eating. Specifically it targets older and retired residents to volunteer to teach young people and adults (in particular lone parents) how to cook healthy meals on a budget. The food prepared is then sold at a reduced / subsidised price to local people and elderly residents living on a tight budget. This project has been extremely successful in giving young people and families the skills they need to prepare economical, healthy meals and also results in older people and families on restricted budgets, receiving healthy, affordable meals. The project works to break down barriers that exist between the generations on the estate and has the by-product of not just improving health and nutrition but also, reducing feelings of isolation that can impact on mental health and wellbeing.
Review of provision It was the aim of the Supporting Change project to review the success, the opportunities and the limitations of the Wellbeing Café and following consultation with the owner, staff and community to not only identify areas for potential development but also to implement as much change as possible within the limited time frame, whilst setting in motion a range of options which will ensure sustainability and future progression for the Café. Having thoroughly reviewed the success or otherwise of previous activity, the main outcomes of the project and the areas identified for future development were as follows: APPRENTICESHIP PROVISION The Wellbeing Café and its owner Kwaku, has, since its conception, illustrated a real desire to share his knowledge an appreciation of the benefits of a healthy diet and the preparation of affordable but nutritious meals to young people, adults and the elderly. As previously mentioned the Café has offered a number of training programmes and sessions and has also in the past been involved in delivering aspects of the Hospitality Apprenticeship Framework. This is an area which the café is well positioned to deliver and as the result of this 12 month Supporting Change programme we have been able to identify opportunities for the Café to become more central in the delivery of an end to end Apprenticeship programme. Over recent months the owner of the Café has also secured contracts to deliver catering services to Housing Association Care Homes via Supporting People contract provision, and significant development work has taken place for the Wellbeing Café to offer a satellite training centre for the delivery of an Apprenticeship programme which will see young people train for hospitality and catering jobs within these Care Home facilities. In order to move this forward Rinova is now working with a number of SFA funded Apprenticeship providers (in particular the London Borough of Wandsworth and North Herts College) to secure funding for the Wellbeing Café to deliver its own Apprenticeship contract. It is anticipated that the first of these will start in January 2013. Links have also been forged with a large, established catering and hospitality employment agency (Staff GB ), that has successfully branched into the field of Apprenticeships and Training and collaboration between the two organisations will now take place to enable the Well Being Café to develop their own provision.
Cross Project Collaboration There are significant synergies between other Activate projects, Eat Wise Eat Well and Sports Entrepreneurs. A key feature of Metropolitan s strategy has been to lower unit costs by referring some clients onto other projects, deliver some activities as a combination, for example activities in the café after sporting sessions have taken place, include whole families in different activities, for example lone parents attending the Wellbeing Café whilst Sports activities take place and then bringing the groups together. While the Sports Entrepreneurs project aims to train people to become sports coaches in their own communities and within areas of social housing, the Eat Well Eat Wise projects aims to inform residents of the benefits of a healthy and nutritious diet, using schools as an outlet for teaching young people and children about the connections between food, health and improved wellbeing. These two projects are already working closely to develop a new programme of activity (funded under the Supporting Impact initiative), to bring aspiring Sports Coaches into the Eat Wise Eat Well programme, so that they can experience first hand how a healthy diet can improve sporting performance and overall health and fitness. These aspiring coaches will then be in a position to inform residents that join their respective sports classes, on the benefits, providing hints and tips on healthy cooking and signposting them to the Eat Well Eat Wise programme. It seems a natural progression that the Wellbeing Café should be central to the delivery of these healthy cooking classes and it is the intention to ensure that the Wellbeing Café becomes an integral part of this Metropolitan combined initiative. Streegames Hannah Crane illustrates the value of the programme: For us this partnership is a natural coming together of like minded organisations who prioritise working in communities where existing provision is limited. Activate has got the social housing providers started, and we are pleased to be able to build on this work, in part using our own funding to continue the work already started, but also to identify new projects where the need is greatest Working in partnership with Streetgames and ProActive London, a number of new projects have evolved from the initial Activate programme, most notably the 2012 Mayors Legacy funding award, led by Streetgames and supported by 9 National Governing Bodies for sport and 3 housing associations. This projects primary aim is to increase the number of young people who participate in sports, however it has run a number of peripheral activities to ensure that participation endures, for example Summer Festivals attended by both sports clubs and local agencies involved in Wellbeing, Health and youth work.
The collaborative nature of the partnership ensures the participant can dip in and out of different activities and effectively their Wellbeing is improved. In this way we have addressed the original bid aim to link the other Activate Initiatives, whilst also ensuring that the combined projects can offer an end-to-end programme which will be attractive and innovative when seeking funding for the future. We have been able to integrate the Wellbeing Café into other community projects to support Metropolitans Community Sports programme and strengthen links with Sports. Achieving Sustainability 1 The overarching aim of the Supporting Change programme was to find ways to ensure sustainability for the Wellbeing Café. During the process of delivering the Supporting Change programme it became clear that some of the original plans and suggestions were not viable. However, other opportunities and strategies were identified. One of the new opportunities which will result in access and inclusion in a number of local and/or London wide funding bids and programmes, is the Wellbeing Café s inclusion in the Rinova Consortium http://www.rinova.co.uk/rinova-consortium/ The Rinova Consortium consists of a unique network of employability and skills organisations working together to create new opportunities for young people. We do this by utilising artistic and cultural expression, the creative industries, sport, health and active leisure to engage and inspire young people NEET (not in employment, education or training). The Consortium includes well established, respected deliverers, from a range of sectors, this includes community delivery organisations, grass roots deliverers, Colleges, Universities, private and not for profit organisations, the Wellbeing Café will now benefit from not just the sharing of good practise, links and networking but also from being included in joint and partnership bids which it might not otherwise be able to access. As an example, some of the opportunities which have been offered to partners in the past 12 months include the following; --Support to Prime Contractors engaged in DWP Work Programme and to deliver imaginitive and effective employability initatives for Young People --Developed new pilot Apprenticeship initiatives for those aged 16-18 and 19+ with Skills Funding Agency Providers --Awarded major contracts to deliver SFA NEET partnership provision --Developed a new partnership to implement volunteering and social action initiatives for young people leaving school.
Achieving Sustainability 2 By joining the Rinova group, Taste of Home will be able to access Business Development Support primarily from Rinova but also join the wider group who share best practice, bid for funding in a collaborative manner and offer low cost services within the group, for example Collage arts have an in-house design team able to produce project marketing collateral. As well as providing dedicated and expert advise on possible funding opportunities this will also enable Wellbeing Café to address another of their original aims which was to focus on areas of high deprivation in Hackney, Harringey and Enfield as well as building on partnerships in Lambeth. Through their inclusion in pan London projects and through developing networks with other providers across the capital (Collage Arts who will be working closely with Wellbeing are based in Haringey), Wellbeing will now be able to promote their model within these deprived boroughs and extend their influence to outside of Lambeth. Through their inclusion in the Consortium, Wellbeing will automatically have access to a range of tools, which will enable them to better capture feedback from their clients. All Consortium members have access to a range of tools designed as a result of a successful LSIS bid. Having effectively captured this feedback, Rinova will work with Wellbeing on any future projects to ensure that they embed users views to shape the initiative further, identify community groups able to partner and therefore embed community involvement in an on-going basis. Conclusion The Wellbieng Café has achieved a number of successes it has brought individuals and communities together in a local setting. It has provided value for money by working in collaboration with the Sports Entrepreneurs and Eat Wise Eat Well initiatives and ability to offer customers subsidised produce. Through ongoing provision of business support from Rinova and opportunity to work with partner organisations, there is an improved chance of the project legacy continuing. This potential sustainability was made possible by the Supporting Impact additional funding, whereas prior to this the café was facing an uncertain future.