Cartrefi Cymru is Wales’s largest rural social care provider; their main charitable purpose is to provide care, accommodation and ancillary services to those with a mental or physical disability, in order to foster and encourage a sense of independence. Their work is based on strong values that put the people they support at the heart of their decision-making and support practice.
In November 2016, Cartrefi became a co-operative. This means they are now a multi stakeholder organisation whose members work together for mutual benefit. Membership is voluntary and open for people they support, employees and community supporters to work together on two co-operative goals: to strengthen their community and make Cartrefi as good as it can be for everyone.
In June 2017 they exceeded their year-one target of 100 members. Moving forward they will continue to recruit members and work towards establishing a national representative council who will serve to express the views of members.
In the meantime they are busy joining people together (especially their three membership groups) to create local forums. Usually local forums will give most of their attention to making their own local community stronger. This means they are involved in a range of community activities which reflect people’s choices and interests. These include a photography group, a gardening group and a walking group!
The All Wales Forum are very supportive of this and encourage the involvement of parents, carers and their family members in shaping these kinds of activities which enable families to continue to join in and live well within their communities.
Is this something you’d like to get involved with? For more information, email info@cartrefi.org and admin@allwalesforum.org.uk , we would love to hear from you.
Below you can watch a short video about Cartrefi Cymru becoming a Co-operative
http://www.cartrefi.org/
