About the Vision Programme
The Vision Programme is managed by Social Enterprise East of England (SEEE) and aims to support the growth of the social economy in Cambridgeshire, shaping a future where businesses serve everyone – in a way that protects natural resources for future generations and shapes resilient, inclusive, and vibrant communities.
SEEE is working with local delivery partners to stimulate business growth and social impact in Cambs social enterprises and charities who are looking to trade. This local business support and engagement includes trusted expert local organisations Allia, Cambridgeshire ACRE, Cambridge CVS, Peterborough CVS and Support Cambridgeshire – all working together to signpost to key information helping people start or grow their organisation or business.
We caught up with our Managing Director Deb Lee to discuss the latest updates for the Vision Programme in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough:
How is the programme going Deb?
The programme is designed to create an ecosystem of support; we are now at a stage where all the elements are live and available to existing or potential organisations in the impact economy.
What findings so far? Any surprises? Common issues in the social enterprise sector?
We know that the sector has growth potential and so demand for the programmes and local engagement has been high. A common issue for the organisations we are working with is a need to grow their business and increase income to cope with the pressing need for the social or environmental solutions they are working towards.
How important are the local infrastructure organisations delivering support through this programme?
Working with other infrastructure organisations enables our support to reach right into the heart of communities and across the whole of the impact sector. They are trusted organisations who can provide direct help as well as signposting to the other opportunities within the programme.
How vital is this funding for Cambridgeshire?
Funding like this is absolutely vital for the county. This type of programme as well as seed or growth funding can be seen as an investment to ease the increasing demand on public services and charities in Cambridgeshire. We know that for every pound invested in social enterprise that the social value created pays back that investment many times over. We also know that if we can build supportive systems and services for these entrepreneurs, we can help them collaborate and cooperate and be stronger together. If Cambridgeshire can continue to build on the projects they have already invested in, we believe that over time we can demonstrate that a density of social enterprises around a place will shift otherwise enduring social issues for a community.
How does this third sector funding set an example to other mayoral combined authorities?
In Cambridgeshire the CPCA has demonstrated that it is an early adopter of such initiatives and this includes recent projects focusing on Community Wealth Building in Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire. We also worked together with the CPCA when they invested in growth programmes for the sector, as well as supported us with developing a wider strategy for the third sector in Cambs. The CPCA also demonstrated it’s commitment to the sector through funding three new Social Enterprise Hubs that we at SEEE delivered. Through the knowledge and expertise provided by SEEE, the CPCA can take what works elsewhere across the country as well test new bold, trailblazing initiatives for the benefit of some of those that are struggling most in our communities. Investment in the impact sector has been proven to work in other Combined Authorities and we’re seeing many more successful examples such as within Manchester.
What is Local Cubed all about? Why now and why these areas?
Local cubed is a programme of support aimed to lift people up through the creation of strong local economies. It takes a community wealth building approach but distils that theory into three practical core elements. They are:
1. Connecting local, 2. Spending local and 3. Growing local.
We are working in Whittlesey and Millfield in Peterborough to trial this approach in both city and rural communities. We are harnessing the connections and trust of the local infrastructure organisations to engage with community organisations and then help them realise local ambition.
We’ll be able to provide an update on these projects in late spring 2026.