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EnglishArabicBengaliBosnianBulgarianCatalanChinese (Simplified)Chinese (Traditional)CroatianCzechDanishDutchEstonianFilipinoFinnishFrenchGermanGreekHindiHungarianIgboItalianJapaneseKoreanKurdish (Kurmanji)LatvianLithuanianLuxembourgishMacedonianMalayMalteseNepaliNorwegianPersianPolishPortuguesePunjabiRomanianRussianSerbianSlovakSlovenianSomaliSpanishSudaneseSwahiliSwedishThaiTurkishUkrainianUrduVietnameseWelshYorubaAs 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.
A lot of people in the local voluntary sector are going to be very angry today. They’re going to feel threatened, undervalued, rejected and hopeless. The Council’s budget proposals will make horrible reading for many people who’ve been working very hard for a long time to make a difference in the city. For some groups this will mean cuts to services and activities. For many it will mean many job losses – the sector is an employer too, after all. For some this may be the last straw and we may see the end of a number of organisations that have made a great contribution to the city.
Four weeks to go and the Spirit of Manchester Festival is building up nicely.
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.
Macc has been reviewing our work around equalities and human rights, both as part of the provision of Manchester City Council’s infrastructure for Manchester’s voluntary and community sector and as part of Macc’s work and our organisational aims and objectives.
Romanian Roma migrants in Greater Manchester live mostly in the Gorton/Levenshulme/Longsight area.
Amina Lone and Dan Silver of SARF have produced, for Open Society Foundations, a must-read report about white working class people living in Higher Blackley.
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.
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