About Us – Bishopwearmouth Co-operative

Bishopwearmouth Co-operative is a unique local ‘Not-for-Profit’ Community Interest Company which supports adults with disabilities in its Garden Centre, Landscaping and Floristry service.

Our Directors

Our Mission, Aims & Values

Mission

To provide a high quality, customer focused services by delivering work-based opportunities for vulnerable adults in horticulture and floristry, and to breakdown social barriers and inequality in the local and wider community.

Vision

To achieve our mission of being a socially inclusive trusted provider of services and aspire to be the best at what we do.

Values

The values at the heart of our company and all we do are:
We respect individual choice and promote inclusion, rights, and independence
– Giving consideration to the people we support and our colleagues
– Valuing diversity and promoting equality
– Respecting, considering, and consulting with all our customers

We enable individuals to meet their needs and fulfil their aspirations
– Becoming the best employer, we can be. Encouraging staff ownership
– Ensuring that we are able to deliver quality services
– Dealing with problems with a can-do attitude

We aspire to be the best of what we do
– Focusing on continuous improvement and developing the company’s reputation
– Learning from and sharing experiences
– Acting with positivity and ambition

We deliver the best possible outcomes for the people we support and the partners we work with
– Innovating to meet the needs of our customers
– Building long term, successful partnerships with commissioners, academics, professionals, community groups and agencies
– Meeting rigorous quality standards and achieving measurable outcomes in our service

We include the people we support, our staff, the community we work in and our partners
– Developing a truly inclusive culture
– Influencing policy related to our areas of work and acting as a force of change
– Inspire confidence and trust by operating in an open, accountable, and transparent culture across all levels of the company
– Working in a sustainable, corporately responsible way
– Providing training and development opportunities for all colleagues

Being a Co-Operative

Attached to the values of Bishopwearmouth Co-op are those a company signs up to when it becomes a co-operative and joins the co-operative movement:
Self-help
Self-responsibility
Democracy
Equality
Equity
Solidarity

Our Co-Operative

Co-operative members believe in the ethical values of:
Honesty
Openness
Social responsibility
Caring for others

Our Business objectives will be to:

To run Bishopwearmouth Co-op as a business for it to improve and increase the services it offers to its users, and to increase its social impact.
Move away from the reliance of Local Authority funding and explore other funding options to develop and grow the company.
Expand and diversify the business in accordance with the business plan
Become a market leader providing a unique high-quality community business in work based vocational horticulture, floristry, and work-based day opportunities.
Improve the local environment by undertaking recycling and landscaping projects.
Develop and meet customer needs which include partners, the local and wider community.
Provide a high-quality product and competitive service to our customers.
Develop referral routes by liaising with schools, colleges, local authorities, and agencies.
Follow the CIC ethos of investing any profits back into the company which benefits the community and its membership
Develop the Bishopwearmouth site into a retail outlet allowing public sales enabling us to maximising income.

Interact, engage, and share knowledge with local residents, community groups and associations.
Open the Bishopwearmouth site to the general public enabling people to access sales and community workshops.
Enhance the lives of adults with Learning disabilities, physical disabilities, mental health needs and other vulnerable adults through horticulture and floristry.
Break down social barriers, reduce social stigma, equalities within the local community.
Reduce local unemployment by providing work opportunities for vulnerable adults.
Provide services to maintain and develop individuals’ self-esteem, independence, and personal skills so they become less reliant on carers, family, local authorities, and their services.
Enable vulnerable people to have active participation in a membership based social company
Reduce inequalities for disabled adults within the Sunderland area
Promote social Inclusion and community cohesion
Provide real employment opportunities for disabled adults
All of the profits we make are invested in the company & community Provide a professional and high-quality community business
Promote social inclusion, equality and involvement within our local community
Reduce inequalities for disabled adults and help support them to move on to greater independence
Provide paid employment, education, training, work-based placements and volunteering opportunities for vulnerable adults from our local community