It is with the greatest pleasure and honor that we have some wonderful news regarding our service and we would like to share this with as many people as possible.    

Many of the citizens, parents and carers we work with will know that this has been an idea in our heads for some time.  The lockdown time has enabled us to follow through on the procedure necessary for becoming a not-for-profit company. 

Open Wings is now officially registered as a not for profit, Community Interest Company.  This means that any surplus money will be ploughed back into offering more choices, possibilities and opportunities for those we work with benefitting the local community.

Open Wings Certificate of Incorporation CIC

We have a wonderful new Director, Juliet. E. Kele who was chosen specifically for her work in inclusion and diversity, and we know she will be a valuable asset to us.  We are looking forward to working with her and thank her for her commitment and enthusiasm towards our service.

Juliet. E. Kele

 To find out more about Juliet. E. Kele here is the link: https://everipedia.org/wiki/lang_en/juliet-e-kele

So, what will becoming a Community Interest Company (CIC) mean for the day to day running of the service?

More collaboration with local and national organisations to provide excellent learning opportunities

More collaboration with local employers as we continue to establish a local Employer Forum and work experience opportunities for adults with learning disabilities or differences.

Access to funding opportunities which will allow us to be able to offer some new and wonderful experiences.

Marketing of our service to local Community and Learning Disability Teams to ensure that they are aware of what our service can offer and how we can work and an increase in our general marketing.

An increase in volunteer work within our service.

Plans were made prior to the pandemic to work with organisations to help with issues such as food waste and sustainability and this year, this will be developed.

We really want to do good and open up the opportunities for citizens attending our service and beyond.  They are all individuals, with specific individual needs but they are all able to offer and give something back to the local community.  What we need now is opportunities of projects, voluntary work and community development work which we can be involved in, so if you have an idea of how you can work with us, please do contact us.  If you are a local business, we are particularly interested in working with you regarding our Employer Forum, but if you have other ideas then please contact us. 

If you have any skills which you feel you could offer tasters in for the members that would be wonderful too.  It is always great to welcome new visitors.  Maybe you have a skill you would like to share.

Becoming a Community Interest Company has been very important to us.  We are now therefore committed to making a difference in our wider community but we cannot do this alone.  We need the support of the local community and local business. We need your ideas. 

To coincide with becoming a CIC, we also have a brand spanking new website! We feel it really demonstrates our story.  What we need now are more stories so that we can keep our website updated and informative.  Collaborating with local business and community is paramount and we need your help in order to offer further opportunities for citizens and in order to be able to expand the services we offer to make our story bigger and better!

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