Making Wales Safer: Cynon Valley Crime Prevention Association

Date: 21.12.2011

Christmas is a time when safety and security is paramount, for social enterprise Cynon Valley Crime Prevention Association it is a priority all year round.

Key business stats:
 

What they do: Install security equipment, often for vulnerable people, and use profits to run community safety projects

Based: Aberdare, but cover South, Mid and West Wales

Staff: 34

Turnover for 2010/11: £1.4 million

Crime prevention has always been important to Vince Price. As a police officer until his mid-fifties, the prevention of crime was central to his job. But he saw that more funds were needed for this kind of work.

Now, as head of Cynon Valley Crime Prevention Association (CVCPA) , Vince (pictured below holding aloft the 2008 HOVIP 'Most Innovative Social Enterprise' Award) is able to concentrate fully on making Welsh communities safer.

CVCPA, based at an old police station in Aberdare, is a rather neatly aligned social enterprise - it uses the profits it generates from installing burglar alarms, CCTV and other security measures to fund community safety initiatives in South, Mid and West Wales.

Its commercial arm - Cynon Valley Crime Reductions Services (CVCRS) - was set up 10 years ago to support the now 25 year-old charity.

Despite feeling the pinch during the recession, the business is continually making moves to stay dynamic in a changing economy, says Vince. ""We'll talk to anyone about new opportunities. You have to; I think cooperation is the future" he says.

Vince joined the CVCPA in 1998 when they had just £15.10 in the bank. He had to fundraise for his own salary.

Financial success

Now, with 10 staff at the company and 24 at the charity, the organisation is doing phenomenally well. Grants are by far the main source of income, but the trading arm is an additional funding stream.

The turnover for the charity in 2010/11 was £1.4 million, and nearly £8 million in grant funding has been secured since 1999.

The decision to create a trading arm in 2001 came about because the grants coming in were for specific projects, and CVCPA wanted to work on other projects outside these remits.

In total, CVCRS (the social enterprise element of the organisation) has brought in just over £2.5 million in its time, a fifth of which has been donated to the charity's aims.

But, despite a healthy track record, Vince admits that the current economic climate can make it difficult to keep afloat.

Diversification

"It's getting harder all the time" he tells WSEC. "We are always trying to diversify our trading activities to keep our head above water."

"We've started moving into green initiatives like draft exclusion, loft insulation and will possibly do solar panel installation on top of our core business of fitting intruder alarm systems, CCTV (pictured left), Access Control Systems, UPVC locking systems, key suiting and cutting, and building maintenance."

"We're also increasing the amount of networking and 'door knocking' we're doing to get the word out about our services to potential customers," he says.

To help the company be as prepared as possible for the future Vince, who is retiring in March, has had a full business forecast done for the company. It will give his successor and new business development manager an idea of what to expect in 2012.

A strong workforce

He describes his workforce as mixed. It includes team members with degrees and those with fewer qualifications coming through work programmes.

"We are in the middle of our first social accounting exercise. The results are due in March, but we can see that we've taken 15 people off the dole over the years. Several have come from the New Deal scheme and we've kept them on because they've been so good" he says.

CVCPA's core focus is working with schools, pupil referral units and other community groups, like local youth cime prevention panels, to teach safety and security. It also provides services such as secure car parking for community events. Its main aim is to ensure Welsh neighbourhoods are safer.

Increasing skills and knowledge

The young people that the charity engages with often fit into the NEET category (Not in Education, Employment or Training) and Cynon Valley Crime Prevention Association works with them to increase their self esteem and give them project management experience and presentation skills through the Open College Network.

On the commercials side, safety equipment is fitted for anyone across the Welsh local authorities that the company operats in, with a particular emphais on working with groups like Welsh Women's Aid and older people's groups, to provide greater security to more vulnerable members of the community.

Pictured: Installing new window locks is just one of the services the company provides to communities across South, Mid & West Wales
 

Cooperative working

Heading in to 2012, Vince sees the company building on the collaborative work it has already started. It is part of several consortiums, working with charities and businesses.

Most notable is perhaps is Secure Wales - a cooperative headed up by CVCPA, with five companies across the private sector. Leighton Andrews, then Deputy Minister for Regeneration, issued funding of £10,000 to get the cooperative off the ground two years ago.

"Its taken two years to finalise our constitution. It has been hard work, but we've already gained some good business through the arrangement" says Vince. "We meet once a month and plan to put 5% of any profits we make through Secure Wales into a joint pot. It looks as though this could bring in increasing revenue in the coming years."

"Joined up thinking is the future" he says, "but not many people inside and outside social enterprise are doing it. I don't understand why, because a lot are doing the same thing in different areas and they could provide better services and be more powerful when bidding if they work together."

For more information on CVCPA and CVCRS visit www.cynonvalleycrimeprevention.co.uk