Award criteria
For an individual or group who has done some great work to bring communities together to understand, appreciate and positively value each other. The work must have taken place in Manchester within the last 12 months. Nominations must show:
- Activities which have brought together people from across more than one community. These can be communities which are about a shared place, a shared identity or shared interests
- How they promote growing together in harmony rather than conflict and celebrate the diverse nature of the people who live, work and study in this city
Please read all the options below, and cast your vote at the bottom of the page. Voting closes on 31 July 2018. The winner will be announced in August.
Please note: there is only one vote per person, due to the set-up of the poll only one vote can be cast per computer as a vote is identified by an IP address.
The winner will be invited to attend the Spirit of Manchester Awards 2018 ceremony to receive their award and the film of the winning Community Space, made by our Community Reporters, will be shown on the night.
ALL FM
ALL FM has over 100 volunteers, mainly presenters and producers. Our volunteers’ diversity and their shows reflect the communities of Manchester that they serve and broadcast to. This diversity includes ethnicities, age, sexuality, disability, gender, location in Manchester. Our volunteers and shows include: carers; people on the autistic spectrum; those from the Irish community; those with disabilities; people with mental health issues; the LGBT community; older people; women; and children.
We have six foreign language shows, the majority of which are the only ones of their kind on FM radio in the NW:
• Chinese community (Chinese language radio show – only the second in Manchester)
• Polish community (only Polish language radio show in NW)
• Pakistani community (Urdu shows)
• African communities (including political show on Africa, laced with both old and new ‘skool’ African music and Portuguese language radio show)
• Persian community (Farsi shows)
This diversity comes together at ALLFM where their voices and communities are expressed on ALL FM 96.9. We are the voice of diverse Manchester.
Website: https://allfm.org/
Facebook: www.facebook.com/ALLFM/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/allfm
Flourish Together CIC
Manchester and Greater Manchester has many networks for different social action causes. Through Flourish Together we have sought to create cohesion across the public, private and VCSE sectors to support women as a force for social change, building on the long history, inertia and sometimes hidden impact women have created to make the area great.
Whilst 50% of our network is from Manchester our monthly events, mentoring and our women leaders/changemakers activities draw women from every borough and beyond the area to build new connections for support, learning, trading and more. Plus they are investing their time and cash in each other with our collective crowdfund investments from £5 collectively creating a £10k community seed fund this year.
To give some sense of the wider diversity of our network and community cohesion bringing women together can address: 35% of our network is from the BAME community, 40% have experienced mental health issues, 25% are single parents, 15% are from the LGBT community. We are trying to break down barriers across sectors, boroughs, cultures, faiths and between the 'haves' and 'have nots' enabling and empowering all women to flourish, create social change across every sector/field, increase their economic independence and benefit families, communities and society at large.
Facebook: www.facebook.com/groups/837571999692434/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/flourishcic
Human Appeal
Human Appeal is a Muslim-faith based humanitarian aid charity in Cheadle. Whilst a good portion of their work is working in places like Syria, Iraq and Yemen – they have done an amazing amount for people in the UK – showing the British Muslim community in a positive light and working with other faith based charities to show that we are stronger when we are all together.
In response to the Manchester Arena terrorist attacks they raised £28,000 for the victims as part of their ‘Muslims for Manchester’ campaign to show that Manchester's Muslims stand in solidarity and defiance with the victims and this city.
They ran their second year of Wrap Up Manchester in 2017, where they collected thousands of coats for rough sleepers across the city. And they have recently donated sleeping bags for rough sleepers who had theirs ruined by the ‘Beast From The East’.
Website: https://humanappeal.org.uk
Facebook: www.facebook.com/HumanAppeal.UK
Twitter: https://twitter.com/humanappeal
Manchester City of Sanctuary
I have been volunteering with Manchester City of Sanctuary for three months, and each time I attend one of their community events I see new, deeper layers of how they bring love, hope, joy and a sense of belonging to people living across the Greater Manchester region.
They could not be more deserving of the award, as their vision itself centres around community cohesion. At the very heart of the movement is the desire to build a culture of welcome for refugees and asylum seekers – new and old living in the community. All of their (limited) resources are devoted to nurturing a community in which sanctuary seekers can contribute, socialise, and feel welcome.
Activities include community meals twice a month where sanctuary seekers take it in turns to cook together in teams and host an afternoon of sharing and conversation with fellow sanctuary seekers and people from the local community. They regularly bring together over 100 individuals from over 10 countries, who are living across all the different boroughs of Greater Manchester. Everybody is welcome, and everybody is invited to contribute. This allows everybody to come together in neutral, welcoming spaces and celebrate their diverse cultures and interests.
Website: https://manchester.cityofsanctuary.org/
Facebook: www.facebook.com/manchestercityofsanctuary
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ManchesterCoS
Rainbow Surprise
Over the past three years while I've been volunteering with rainbow surprise I have seen them do amazing events bring lots of different communities together. The Big Neighbourhood bash was held in Tesco Cheetham Hill carpark, hundreds of people attended from different faiths and backgrounds and they all came together and had a great day.
I really believe that Rainbow Surprise do a great job and the community cohesion award should go to them as this will boost their confidence and will show that small groups can make a big difference.
Because of the many community projects that have been consistent and much needed they have helped many families with food, household goods, lifts here and they work all hours to help the needy. I have never met a bunch of more committed individuals working together and providing a fabulous support network. I cannot praise them enough to be honest I highly recommend them for this award.
Website: www.rainbowsurprise.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/rainbowsurprisemcr
Twitter: https://twitter.com/surpriserainbow