The ACE Way
ACE works to achieve lasting positive change for individuals, families and our communities. We do this through complementary approaches to community development, we call the ‘ACE Way’. This combines Asset Based Community Development (ABCD), Co-production and Community Organising approaches.
At the heart of the ‘ACE Way’ is the belief that creating change is only effective and sustainable if people are empowered to design and deliver their own solutions to poverty and disadvantage.
Our ‘Working Well’ project, funded by the National Lottery’s Helping Working Families programme from 2019 - 2023, has enabled us to further develop these approaches with families experiencing in-work poverty. Through co-producing a range of projects and activities with local families, we have learned vital lessons that are shaping the way we work and our future planning.
You can read our full report on the Working Well project here.
Working Well
- helping working families
Read about the work and impact of the four project strands:
We believe that poverty should not be accepted as a fact of life, and social injustice should be challenged and changed.
We are building things together in our community to enable people to look after each other. This includes our pantry, community shop, Café Barr and community groups for peer support.
We are increasingly involved in organising to make change at a wider level, working with Citizens Cymru and the Bevan Foundation.
Three Essential Ingredients
Connections
A key lesson we have learned is that all of this work is more than the sum of its parts. It is in the range of holistic support, and the connections between different projects and teams, that really significant transformation happens. Our broad spectrum of work means that no matter your situation, there’s something at ACE for you, and there’s a way you can give back. The magic is in the mix of everything.
Time
The learning is that it is a slow process. It takes time for people to get the confidence and to feel that they can do it, to have the knowledge, to really grow into leadership. Co-production is a journey. And projects need to kind of be mindful of the time that it might take for people to travel through their journeys.
Relationships
Relationships are key to everything we do at ACE. We have built a culture of collaboration and respect between staff, volunteers and participants or service users. We avoid hierarchies, and we are non-judgmental. People come as they are, bring their needs and their gifts, and everyone belongs.
Thanks to the National Lottery Community Fund and all of our partners.
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