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Cambridgeshire ACRE was founded in 1924 as the Rural Community Council for Cambridgeshire. We are a charity and a company limited by guarantee.

We are part of the Rural Community Action Network, the collective of the 38 Rural Community Councils throughout England, their eight regional bodies and their national umbrella, ACRE. RCCs are charitable local development agencies, generally based at county level, which support and enable initiatives in rural communities.

Cambridgeshire ACRE is responsible for delivering a wide range of advice, information and support services to local communities in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough. We have several hundred members including parish councils, community facility management committees, other community groups and individuals with an interest in rural life.

Our vision is of communities and voluntary and community organisations in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough which are vibrant and viable, able to shape their own futures and which are actively working to create greater equality and improved opportunities for all.

We believe our mission is to strive to achieve this through working in partnership with other bodies, local communities and groups to gather information and develop understanding of community needs and to use this knowledge to be active in leading, influencing and facilitating the development of plans and actions to address these needs; through direct work in local communities and by supporting the development of voluntary and community organisations so that they and communities become more independent, cost effective and self-sustaining.

We have four important 'anchors' that describe the values we use in the way we work:

• Putting the community first - focusing on effective communication with local people to identify needs.
• Turning regional and local rural priorities into action - working with organisations, groups and individuals to find practical and sustainable ways in which priorities and needs can be addressed.
• Aiming to make a real difference - ensuring that activity is geared to seeing real changes in people's lives and being able to demonstrate this.
• Always striving to improve - strengthening our ability to learn from what we do and drawing on lessons from elsewhere in our wish to do the best for local communities.