Røverkjøp gjenbruk

Part of Red cross Stavanger

Stavanger Røde Kors – Nettverk etter soning

Many people who have need of public services have, for different reasons, difficulties in making use of them. The project Tillitsperson (“someone you can trust”) is linked to the Church City Mission in Stavanger, and trains volunteers in how to play the role of trusted friends for these people. The volunteers help social services users to obtain their entitlements and fulfil their obligations. This makes the interaction between the user and the social services system safer and more effective. We at Samfunnssentralen have been working together with Tillitsperson for three years to get the project up and running, and have never been in any doubt that the service was essential to society. Our biggest challenge was to build a financial model that would keep the project viable when the time came for it to leave Samfunnssentralen. By the time our formal collaborative relationship was terminated, Tillitsperson had secured funding from both private and public sources for a further two years.

Currently, far too many people are excluded from school and working life. There exists a great deal of research into effective measures for reducing these levels of exclusion, but this know-how is difficult to access, rarely applied, and inadequately implemented in practice, policy-making and working life. Sense of Science makes research results more accessible and available for debate, enabling us to come together to make knowledge-based decisions. In doing so, we equip ourselves to tackle the problem of social exclusion. Sense of science was the second social entrepreneur to join us at Samfunnssentralen, and we have experienced an exciting journey together. Work started with the development of a digital portal that makes it easier for anyone to access relevant research material. Founder Randi Wågø Aas impressed us with her knowledge and enthusiasm, and today, Sense of science is organised as a network facilitating access to research-based knowledge for those who need it.

Drive is a recreational service for children and young people experiencing social inclusion. Users have in common that they don’t quite fit into, or receive adequate benefit from, traditional recreational activities. The combination of action, adrenalin, engines and motor sports is used to arouse their interest. The aim is to develop the sense of togetherness, mastery and involvement that comes with being part of a team. Drive works closely with parents, schools and the child protection agencies. When we got to know about the service, Drive was already established as a highly effective social entrepreneur both in mid- and eastern Norway. Thus our shared aim was to establish Drive here in Western Norway. Business scaling offers both challenges and opportunities, and it was an interesting journey involving a lot of hard work. Today, Drive clubs can be found all over western Norway.