THE Government will today announce a £95,000 scheme to boost enterprise in North-East unemployment black spots.
The money will pay for business advice to 40 social enterprise schemes.
The pilot programme will be aimed at helping areas like parts of Teesside, recently hit by redundancies at the Corus steel plant.
DTI Minister Douglas Alexander, said the scheme would aim to reawaken the entrepreneurial spirit. Priority would be given to ex-Corus employees in organisations seeking to develop as social enterprises.
"It also complements the ambition of the regional development agency One North East to build an enterprise culture in the North-East of England," he said.
Social enterprises are businesses with "social objectives" whose profit is reinvested in the community - not driven by the need to deliver profit for shareholders.
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