Initially, the majority of Chapel St’s budget is coming through two sources. Firstly, Chapel St is benefitting from the financial support of individuals who wish to invest their money in a business that will generate significant social returns. Secondly, Chapel St team receives income by selling its services to other institutions and organisations.

Chapel St is accountable to a number of people. As a Community Interest Company (CIC) Chapel St is responsible to its directors. The Chapel St Community Fund, which we are developing in 2009, will be a charity and hence governed by its trustees. Beyond that, all Chapel St projects will be accountable to the communities in which they are based and the partners with whom we work with.

A Community Interest Company (CIC) is a particular kind of limited company introduced in 2005 and specifically designed for people who want to conduct a business or other activity for community benefit, and not purely for private advantage. As a social enterprise, the assets and profits of a community interest company are tied to the organisation’s Community Interest Statement. To this end, all of Chapel St CIC’s resources have to be directed towards programmes affecting regeneration in under-resourced communities.

For more information, visit the CIC regulator website.

Russell Rook, one of the founders of Chapel St, worked with The Salvation Army for 18 years. In his latter years at the organisation, Russell worked on the growing opportunities, and need for public service reform, in education and related areas. Both this work and the remarkable heritage of The Salvation Army have inspired some of the work of Chapel St.

Commissioner Philip Needham, an internationally renowned leader within The Salvation Army wrote that key to the effectiveness of the movement - and its founder William Booth - was that it "moved the chapel to the street". Booth rejected the simple option of a privatised faith and went public. His passionate and imaginative response to poverty and deprivation transformed countless communities across the world to the point that today, one hundred and forty years later, The Salvation Army is now the world's largest non-governmental provider of social services.

While Chapel St’s wildest aspirations are dwarfed by Booth’s success, we maintain a commitment and determination to see hope dished out to people and places that have long felt hopeless.

Chapel St is community-focussed and committed to partnership with local community groups, faith groups, business and government. In short, we look forward to partnering with anyone who can utilize our support and services.

As the mantra goes, “Communication is Listening.” Chapel St will work hard to listen to those it is endeavouring to serve. Practically this will mean an extensive process of dialogue with the communities it seeks to work alongside.

Not at all. As a Community Interest Company, Chapel St is legally required to reinvest all long-term profits into communities deprived of adequate education, health-care, housing and employment services. Having returned investment to its initial investors, all subsequent assets and profits will continue to serve this vision and mission in perpetuity.

First, it needs to be said that Chapel St has many heroes in this regard. Far from aspiring to be different from other providers we would hope to emulate the transformative passion and professionalism, expertise and vocation of numerous organisations: we certainly don’t wish to define ourselves in opposition to them!

That said, we obviously want to make a unique contribution and do things with distinction. We wish to be proactive, recognising the changes that are already happening in society, and those which seem to be approaching further down the line. For instance, there are many changes in the way organisations are defined in the 21st century. Historically organisations have been categorised as private, public or voluntary. Here at Chapel St we recognise that these lines are increasingly blurred. Many companies are socially driven, Government is more and more eager to work with private sector and voluntary organisations and voluntary organisations are increasingly professional in the way that they work and the services they deliver. Our desire is to see Chapel St transcend these boundaries and build partnerships across the boundaries. That way, we can harness the resources of the whole community to affect change and regeneration.

The vision of Chapel St seems quite exciting, but what kinds of things are you actually doing right now? At present the team are working very hard to identify and develop programmes that will make a significant impact in under-resourced communities. Alongside this we are working with central Government and local authorities to identify particular opportunities where we can deliver projects in partnership with local communities and organisations.

In terms of education, we are exploring the provision of education in areas where schools are struggling, a range of parenting programmes - in particular a training initiatives for dads - and models of alternative education for young people who have become disengaged with formal education. Go to our Education and DadsUnlimited pages to find out more.

In terms of healthcare, we are working towards the creation of a number of GP-led Healthcare Centres in response to the government’s call for alternative and equitable providers of medical services. Go to our Healthcare page to find out more.

With regards to housing and employment we are, again, in discussions as to a range of service provision so watch the web site for updates.

There are a couple of simple ways you can keep up-to-date with the latest news and gain an insight into the daily goings-on of the Chapel St team. Firstly, you can become our friend on facebook. Secondly, if you use Twitter, you can follow our feed here.

Academies are publicly-funded schools which are independently governed by 'sponsor' organisations. Central government provides the funding for new buildings or facilities, as well as the annual running costs. Organisations which sponsor academies work with the Local Authority and community to provide great education for kids and wonderful wrap-around services for others in the community. As part of this the sponsor provides a special endowment fund to enhance the life of the school and the area. To find out more about the Academies programme itself go to the DCSF Academies website. You can download Chapel St’s prospectus for potential Academies here.