Perthyn
Cymraeg: It Belongs to Our Communities
Perthyn provides local early-stage support to our Welsh communities in the north and west who are interested in developing social enterprise ideas.
Inspiring our Communities to Create
About Perthyn
Established in 2022, Perthyn provides local early-stage support to communities in the north and west with high levels of second home ownership who are interested in developing social enterprise ideas to support and protect the Welsh language. .
- Are you a Welsh language community group or looking to form a group and would benefit from guidance and support with community development?
- Are you an established community project with a new idea to develop?
- Are you interested in creating a social enterprise/co-operative/community-led housing or a Community Land Trust?
- Is there an asset at risk of being lost in your community (pub, shop, church/chapel, library) that you want to bring back into community ownership and use through developing your idea?
The Perthyn team can support you with your idea and help get you started.
Cwmpas is working closely with PLANED to work with our communities across the west and Cwmpas Co-ordinators work with our communities across the north. The project aims to grow a number of initiatives.
We want to see our language used and enjoyed every day in our communities, and work with Cymraeg 2050 to ensure this.
The Perthyn project wants to create a strong economic base for our Welsh communities by coming together to create and establish:
A social enterprise is an organisation that uses business strategies to achieve social, environmental, or community-focused goals. It operates like a business, generating revenue, but its primary purpose is to address a social issue or create positive change rather than maximize profit for shareholders. Profits are often reinvested into the mission of the enterprise.
A co-operative is a member-owned and democratically controlled organisation that operates for the benefit of its members. In a co-op, each member has an equal say in decision-making, regardless of their investment or involvement level. Their primary focus is on meeting the needs and interests of members, rather than maximizing profits. Profits are often shared among members or reinvested into the co-op to support its mission.
Community-led co-operative housing developments are communal projects where the community itself takes the lead in planning, building, and managing the housing. These developments are typically owned and operated by a co-operative, with decisions made collectively by the members of the project. The aim is to provide affordable, sustainable, and secure housing for the community.
Typically referred to as a CLT, a Community Land Trust is a non-profit, community-based organisation committed to the stewardship and affordability of land, housing and other buildings used for community benefit in perpetuity.
Funding is always an issue for us, and thanks to Perthyn and Cwmpas we feel we have made considerable progress in the past year. We are extremely grateful for your support and advice in relation to the application.
Thank you so much! The best thing was the ease of reporting for us as we are all volunteers with families and jobs, so having the support was great.
Receiving the Perthyn grant was a significant boost, that encouraged us to start developing a community-led housing project.
I found the whole process, especially the support provided by the Perthyn team to be impeccable. The Perthyn funding has been invaluable in allowing Hwb Llansaint CIC to formulate a business plan and undertake initial planning to renovate the CIC's premises. Achieving these key milestones would have likely taken years without the Perthyn funding.
This funding has been a lifeline for our young adults - helping them develop skills, build confidence, and see their value in the community. By being paid for their work, they’ve been empowered to invest in themselves and contribute meaningfully to local development, demonstrating the importance of younger peoples voices within the community.
Perthyn supports the following aims in the Welsh Language Communities Housing Plan, and Cymraeg 2050: a million Welsh-speakers.
Our Aims:
- To help sustain Welsh-speaking communities by establishing new social enterprises and co-operatives
- To help sustain Welsh-speaking communities by developing solutions to support local affordable housing.
- To help sustain communities by means of engaging and benefit from wider Welsh Government and other funding support to ensure that Welsh-speaking communities continue to thrive.
- Create Welsh-speaking spaces – where the Welsh-language is central to the administrative structure and an integral part of the initiative.
