Presented at: GSEF2016 Montreal 

Organisation: City of Warsaw (Government and public agency), Fundacja Inicjatyw Społeczno Ekonomicznych (FISE) (Social and Solidarity economy organisation)

Date: September 7, 2016

Presenter: Krzysztof Mikolajewski (Public Communication Center Manager), Magdalena Huszcza (Representative)

Contacts: cks@um.warszawa.pl, mhuszcza@fise.org.pl

Summary: 

Local Spots for Activity are spaces supported in various ways by local communities and the social and solidarity economy. Residents of Warsaw network there, meet with neighbours, organize debates, meetings and workshops or celebrate holidays. Local Spots for Activity combine vocational and social integration in local communities: organized activities include flea markets, greenery planting, etc. and mini-grants for many other local activities are proposed. As such, these structures also act as incubators for NGOs and social economy initiatives such as food cooperatives or co-working spaces and are able to host policy consultation debates with local authorities. They facilitate networking projects within participatory budgeting and local initiatives of residents cofinanced by the City of Warsaw. The support they provide is always free, and almost anyone can establish Local Spots for Activity. However, feedback collected has shown that local centres are not sufficient to provide the support necessary to create social innovation through the social economy.