Our Vision for Greater Manchester’s Communities
Our vision is for everyone in Greater Manchester to live in a green, strong and socially cohesive neighbourhood, where every person’s voice is heard and where decision makers value local contributions; designing spaces and services which meet local needs. We will provide support to communities and in areas that need us the most.
Sign up to our newsletter
We are always open to new and innovative partnerships with those who share our vision for Greater Manchester’s communities.
If you want to hear more about where Groundwork are working and what we’re up to, please sign up to our newsletter below. Or if you have an idea you’d like to speak to us about please contact us today.
How Groundwork will help make this vision a reality
We work with communities at a neighbourhood level, helping them create a vision for where they live and supporting them to bring their ideas to life. Our team specialise in:
- Community consultation, engagement & development
- Community youth work
- Environmental social action
- Greenspace co-design
Our community workers encourage people to participate in community events and access the support services available to them, they strengthen community connections & build support networks, whilst also supporting the development of new skills and increased capacity which enables communities to take action on issues which matter to them.
Together, we help local people to trial small scale improvements which make the case for further development and investment.
In addition to this local, on-the-ground support, Groundwork also manages national and regional grant programmes, helping funders in the public and private sectors distribute funds to support local community action.
Why is change needed?
Support where it’s needed the most
To create stronger neighbourhoods we must first prioritise providing support services to those living in areas who face multiple challenges, whether it’s high unemployment, social isolation, food poverty, fuel poverty, ill health or more. According to the Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) 2019 study, 23% of neighbourhoods in Greater Manchester are IMD category 1, meaning a huge amount of effort is required to raise the standard of living.
Health & wellbeing
We know that community life, social connections and taking part in local decision making help to drive positive health and wellbeing. Groundwork focus on supporting communities to not only connect with each other but with nature, another strong influencing factor in health.
Mitigate the effects of climate change
Tragically, those who contribute the least to climate change are those who are effected the most. We work with communities to develop solutions which reduce the impact of extreme weather events caused by climate change.
Improve unfair access to greenspace
When it comes to publicly accessible green space, almost 40% of people from ethnic minority backgrounds live in the most greenspace deprived areas, compared to 14% of White people.