On Sunday night I was lucky enough to be at Manchester Arena on a birthday night out with my brother listening to Professor Brian Cox and Robin Ince. I learnt a lot that evening, but what really resonated with me was Brian’s insights into what people say about planet Earth when they return from space. To be so far away and look at Earth as such a tiny dot, we suddenly realise how tiny, vulnerable and insignificant we really are.
The Spirit of Manchester Awards is a series of awards celebrating and highlighting all the excellent work being carried out in Manchester’s voluntary and community sector. As well as providing recognition to the sector in these hard times, we want to raise the profile of the sector amongst the general public and encourage local giving and active citizenship.
Manchester City Council have published their Market Position Statement for Care and Support 2015/16 and anyone with an interest in the future of care and support in Manchester should read it. Manchester's aim is "to forge a new relationship with its partners to benefit all who need care". The Market Position Statement describes the commissioning approach, the context for commissioning and some of the key issues that Manchester needs to address.
As I write this, the team are just about to head over to the Mechanics Institute for today's Emergency Voluntary Sector Assembly event to discuss the impact of Council budget proposals on the work of the voluntary and community groups in Manchester.
Manchester City Council has launched the main consultation on its 2015-17 budget options, along with a number of individual consultations on specific elements.
Options for consultation were agreed by the council’s Executive on Wednesday 26 November.
They aim to address an estimated funding shortfall of £59m in 2015/16, potentially rising to £90 million in 2016/17.
Four weeks to go and the Spirit of Manchester Festival is building up nicely.
Out of the many reasons I applied for an internship, probably the one I dwelt on most was the fear of being unprepared for the real world come summer 2015 when I graduate. As I scrolled through available opportunities nothing appeared to spring out at me and I had almost become resigned to the fact that I would return home for the summer in search of any sort of employment that would tide me over till September.
One of the things I love most about working in the voluntary sector is that if you have a really good idea you can generally find a way to make it happen. It might take a while – things like our State of the Sector and Civil Economy work were on my wishlist for years before we were finally able to publish the finished work. But sometimes you can be taken by surprise at how fast you can go from the idea to it actually happening.
Could Manchester be Europe’s answer to America’s hippest city - Portland, Oregon?
Manchester has enjoyed solid economic success, there is now an opportunity for a ‘new wave’ to Manchester’s future. A new report A Civil Economy for Manchester, prepared for Macc by the think-do tank the Centre for Local Economic Strategies (CLES) demonstrates how this new wave is about unleashing the power of citizens, social and voluntary group.
Before Christmas, Mike Wild (Chief Executive of Macc) and Nigel Rose (Macc’s Strategic Lead on Commissioning) met with Geoff Little (Deputy Chief Executive of Manchester City Council) and Carol Culley (Assistant Chief Executive, Finance and Performance). We wanted to discuss the impact not just of the next wave of public sector cuts but the prolonged effects of recession. We also wanted to explore the Council’s views on how the voluntary and community sector can rise to meet the challenges faced by the communities in Manchester.