Heineken, the UK’s leading brewer, is launching a new community initiative that will see its 270 Manchester Brewery colleagues get involved in kick-starting and reinvigorating local projects within Moss Side.
This new initiative, that will allow Heineken to play a more active part in local life, has been created in conjunction with social enterprise Your Square Mile, a UK-wide organisation that offers practical support to help people make positive change in their communities.
Heineken is the first company Your Square Mile has signed up to its programme of connecting businesses more closely with their communities, in response to locally identified needs.
Heineken is acting on feedback that its employees have a strong desire to make a contribution to the wider communities in which the company operates. The organisation will also engage Heineken colleagues at the John Smith’s Brewery in Tadcaster and the Cider Mill in Ledbury.
The Your Square Mile team will undertake a “social audit” of the Moss Side area to identify issues that can be addressed by the Heineken colleagues involved.
The projects supported by the partnership will be identified and voted on in public workshops. Involving hundreds of local residents and Heineken colleagues, the projects could either reinvigorate existing community initiatives, or create brand new ones devised to meet specific local challenges. The aim is also to reach out and engage people who are currently uninvolved in civic life and whose voices are rarely heard.
Your Square Mile founder Paul Twivy, a Comic Relief advisor for 25 years and co-founder of The Big Lunch in 2009, says the initiative will work closely with a wide range of local stakeholders and community groups.
“Moss Side is already showing signs of renewal as a unique, multicultural neighbourhood, but many fundamental issues remain. The number of remarkable organisations and movements in Moss Side is inspiring and we will work hard to strengthen and extend what is already being achieved to tackle local problems such as mental health, alcohol misuse and youth disengagement,” says Twivy.
Heineken has a strong history of contributing to its local communities and has made a long term commitment to making a positive impact in society, particularly in leading the drinks industry to tackle alcohol misuse. The partnership with Your Square Mile takes Heineken’s social commitment to the next level, incorporating wider community issues beyond those specifically to do with alcohol.
For further information, visit: www.yoursquaremile.co.uk