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.
A new social enterprise is looking for kitchen facilities which may not be in use all the time. "Leancuisine" is hoping to find spare capacity and resources which aren't always in use to develop a new initiative to promote a healthy diet and provide food to homeless people.
Ben Dolman, one of the people developing this initiative, said:
"We are looking for kitchen space to allow us to teach people how to cook healthy food on a low budget, with the food that is cooked then being given out to homeless people by our volunteers.
First Steps Enterprise Fund is a £300,000 pilot fund offering loan-grant packages to charities and social enterprises working in communities in the North West and South West of England.
Small community-led organisations can apply for up to £30,000 to help them grow their services and become more sustainable. The investments are the first steps towards accessing the wider social investment market and more financing options.
This fund is for community enterprises looking to take on their first loan to help the organisation move forward from start-up stage.