Delivering solutions and impact: Over 90 champions of social change receive support from UnLtd
Written by
Ruth Coustick-Deal
External Affairs Lead
We’re excited to announce this quarter's cohort of award winners. We awarded to 95 social entrepreneurs from across the United Kingdom. There is a huge diversity of ideas and social issues that these entrepreneurs are working on; from responding to hygiene poverty with reusable nappies to sustaining young people’s mental health with rap therapy. Some of them are just testing the waters with a brand new idea, and others are well-established and ready to scale.
Read on for info on a few of the amazing social entrepreneurs from this cohort:
The not-for-profit was set up to explore and develop how Capoeira can enrich people’s lives. Its activities include Capoeira classes, employability and personal development programmes for young people across the city, and acclaimed education-based learning programmes. They have already worked with over 30 schools and developed partnerships with some of North-West’s leading youth, arts and cultural organisations.
The course promotes respect, and violence prevention, with an aim to create a world where everyone feels valued, equal and safe. Recognising that sustainable change needs the active participation of boys to end men’s violence, they look at long-term solutions and social causes. Respect 100 inspires men and boys to change and align themselves with women to help achieve gender equality
Karen is starting a 'repair revolution' in South Lakeland. She holds pop-up community repair workshops where people bring items such as clothing, furniture, electrical appliances, and crockery in need of repair. Volunteer repairers then help fix it up, and in turn, pass on knowledge and skills to others. The venture addresses the environmental issue of reducing the amount of waste going to landfill, but most importantly it brings the community together.
Many of these women are out of work after becoming carers, having children, suffering from an illness/disability and are reliant on Universal Credit. Her venture will teach women how to set up their own creative start-ups, turning hobbyists into successful small business owners, which in turn will improve the local economy and eventually provide jobs. Drawing on her experience in the fashion industry, Rebecca will help the women create high quality commercial products and will provide them with a fully equipped workspace.
The project seeks to address food provision in areas of deprivation that don’t prioritise environmental sustainability, community resilience or public health.
They will also be running events such as supper clubs, podcasts and cooking classes as part of their strategy for education, outreach and community building. Much of their produce for the kits and at the events will be supplied by local food growers to support a local sustainable economy.
We’d like to congratulate all our new award winners and we look forward to reporting on more of them over the course of their award programme.