Each year Options sets aside a sum of money which staff and people we support can bid for using the televisions Dragons Den model. It is made up of three members of the Leadership Team. People we support and staff are given the opportunity to come up with creative ideas that require funding to start but will contribute back to the people we support and Merseyside! The response from staff and people we support has been very positive and you can see below from an example of a bid to the den that was successful.

Jewellery Enterprise

Dave Saunders (Team Leader), Joyce Gurrell (Team Leader) and Diane Fisher (Support Worker) approached Dragons Den in early 2009 with the idea of starting a jewellery club with the people we support every Friday for two hours. Their bid to Options for £500 to start the jewellery club has now transformed into a successful enterprise. With the money from Options they purchased all the equipment (beads, boards etc…) to make the jewellery. In total eight people we support make all the jewellery with the support of their staff. The confidence it has given the group is immense. There are more pictures from the jewellery club in ‘Our Gallery’ link. Once the enterprise has built up enough stock they are going to start selling the jewellery around Merseyside. The surplus they make will go back into the enterprise.

Other examples of funded projects include:

• Healthy Living Fun day for people with learning disabilities
• Resources for a shared allotment.