Health & Social Care Accelerator

Supporting Racially Minoritised Social Enterprises and community organisations to grow and support the health, wellbeing and care needs of their communities!

Our 2024 Health & Social Care Accelerator cohort on their last day

This Health & Social Care Accelerator is targeted to support community-based social enterprises and charities who work in health, wellbeing, and social care and feel ready to grow and scale.

Our programme is delivered as part of the Bristol Local Access Programme, an innovative programme created to develop stronger and more sustainable social enterprises in Bristol and who recently launched a second round of funding and support, injecting a further £1.3m into the sector over the next 12 months. First launched in 2021, the Bristol Local Access Programme has played an important role in supporting the growth of social enterprises in the city, providing around £2.5m funding in the form of small grants, repayable loans, and business support to around 130 locally based social enterprises. 

We launched with Open day sessions in April and May and invited applications from organisations including:

  • Black and Racially Minoritised registered charities and social enterprises who support and deliver services in the Health, Wellbeing, and Social Care sectors.

  • Organisations that have been trading for a minimum of 12 months. 

  • Organisations that aspire to expand their impact by scaling their organisations.

  • Organisations that want to enhance their contract and investment readiness

Our final cohort of 14 organisations participated in a 6-week intensive programme between 11th June and 23rd July 2024. The programme facilitated not only key knowledge on supporting enterprise sustainability and growth but access to direct engagement with service commissioners and procurers including:

  • Health Innovation Network West of England

  • Bristol City Council (BCC) (cross-team with Procurement, Social Value, etc) to discuss Adult Single Framework, Children Services & Public Health

  • And NHS Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire ICB

And what did the founders find most beneficial about the programme?

“Connecting with other black founders, learning how to challenge businesses and to know my value - that business is a transaction that I have to get something from . This has been a crucial learning as non profit.”

- Soul Trail Wellbeing

“The knowledge acquired and network formed is amazing. Personally, the 'I can do' attitude has been reinforced. I'm more optimistic about the opportunities ahead of me and I know that I can reach out to BSWN to discuss challenges encountered.”

- Belcho Care Ltd

For the rest of the year, we will be working with our cohort of organisations to provide them with:

  • An opportunity to apply for grant support of between £5,000 and £10,000.

  • Access to 1-2-1 expert advice and coaching, mentoring, and networking opportunities.

  • A chance to pitch to social investors and potentially secure the social investment you need to grow.

Watch this space to hear from the organisations about their plans for growth!