The Wellspring Settlement in Bristol partnered with the University of Bristol because of the skills within the University and because the University is a large employer and educator in the city. Wellspring Settlement felt that the University’s ‘reflectors and evaluators’ could help community organisations evaluate and strengthen the work they do to create better opportunities for local neighbourhood communities. 

The collaboration allows Wellspring Settlement staff and academics to design projects to understand both what the University wants for a particular project, and what the Wellspring Settlement needs, to create real benefit for local people.  

 Joanna Holmes, Former CEO of Wellspring Settlement says

 ‘’The best thing about working alongside the University is the individuals involved, individuals who are very passionate about their particular interests. The best things are the range of projects.’’  

Wellspring Settlement started a social justice project together with the University some years ago. This is a forum for people from the University as well as from business and other community anchor organisations, to tackle issues that come from the community together.  

The University’s City Fellows project led into the ‘Roots into Community Influence’, where the University trained residents undertook research to find out about other residents’ attitudes towards employment and what their employment skills were. Another scheme is the ‘Many Neighbourhoods One City’ which is developing knowledge from different parts of the city to feed into city planning.  

 Joanna Holmes, Former CEO of Wellspring Settlement says  

 ‘’The project I'm particularly proud of is the social justice project because this sparked all of the ideas which led really to the micro settlement and the idea of the role universities could play in parts of the city like this. I think other organisations should partner with the University of Bristol because they will have issues that they're facing that they can tackle better alongside the particular skills and influence that the University of Bristol has. ‘’ 

The University’s development of a site near the main train station at Temple Quarter, close to where Wellspring Settlement is based, brings huge opportunities to involve local communities around Bristol in the life of the University.  

 ‘’We see the partnership with the University of Bristol as the warm-up exercise for the next part of our activity with the University, which is how the move to the Temple Quarter site can work alongside the existing relationship, so that communities here can play a full part in the life of the Temple Quarter campus and the wider development in that area.’’  Joanna Holmes, Former CEO, Wellspring Settlement