If Community Empowerment’s the Answer… What’s the Question? The Case of Newcastle’s CommunityEmpowerment Fund

Abstract

This case study of the establishment of the Community Empowerment Fund, in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, attempts to illustrate how Communities of Practice operate in the third sector. Particular attention is given to how the emerging regional government framework in the UK offers a means by which Communities of Practice create shared mental models, a culture of information sharing and a sense of community that enables learning. The study also attempts to illustrate how Communities of Practice can operate legitimately at the periphery of this emerging regional government framework while redefining processes of governance and impacting upon the formal decision-making process.