Commitment in Communities

Quality Living Scheme

This scheme provided befrienders, mentors and volunteers for clients of Great Places Housing Association (formerly Manchester Methodist Housing Association) with substance misuse, learning and mental health issues as well as young mothers for a number of years.

Ancoats & Miles Platting (AMP) Youth Work Project

This project emerged from the need identified by community activists and Trinity Methodist Church member Walter Yeoman for youth facilities for the young people of the area in the early 1990’s.

The area, in which the TV series Shameless is based, had major social problems at the time, drug misuse, crime, unemployment, truancy and little or no community facilities.

CiC inherited the project from the Manchester & Salford Methodist Mission in 2002, relocated to new premises and reformed the activities.

Over the next seven years AMP, led by the inspirational Martina Convery, developed a model of initiative based targeted work with those most at risk.

Drama, Sport, videos and limited courses were used to address vandalism, truancy, worklessness, substance misuse and sexual health.

Many of the young people involved received their first qualifications from these activities and went on to become representative of their communities.

Martina’s work was recognised by the then Prime Minister Tony Blair who invited her to Downing Street to award her the aptly named Commitments to community award in 2007.

After ten years, on completion of Lottery funding, the loss of the base and Martina’s personal circumstances it was decided to close AMP in 2009.

This project emerged from the need identified by community activists and Trinity Methodist Church member Walter Yeoman for youth facilities for the young people of the area in the early 1990’s.

Stanley Street Youth Club

Stanley Street Methodist Church closed for worship in 2003 but Minister Rev Sue Williams was eager to maintain a presence in the area which had suffered greatly in the recession of the 1980’s – 1990’s.

CiC put together a partnership involving Rev Williams, Manchester Youth Service and Manchester Young Lives (a charity dealing with excluded young people) to provide an educational centre for those out of mainstream schooling and also a local youth club.

Converting the tired building into an education and youth centre was a challenge but CiC obtained funding from New Deal for Communities to convert the building.

CiC also ensured that the building was health and safety compliant, maintained it and also dealt with all aspects of liability.

This partnership lasted five years before the increasing strain of maintaining the building resulted in the closure of the project. However this was timed to coincide with the opening of the nearby Sporting Edge youth facilities and there was a seamless transfer of youth club members to the new service.

The ExCell Project

The ExCell programme which CiC operated for almost four years provided employment (a minimum of 6 months at the minimum wage) for returning prisoners.

Like many CiC projects this was a result of a web of partnerships between Manchester City Council who provided funding and job placements, toucan who accessed the European funding for salaries, Addaction who provided the beneficiaries and a host of secondary partners.

Over 140 beneficiaries, many with serious criminal records and a history of substance misuse completed the programme with roughly 30% entering full time employment. Less than 3% reoffended when on the programme and approximately 60% secured permanent accommodation whilst with us.

A successful offshoot of ExCell Was Recycle IT, a company established to obtain, renovate and distribute old computers to third world schools. This was the starting point for many upon their release from prison and prior to moving onto the City Council.

The realigning of funding to major private sector providers to cater for short term unemployed meant that the ExCell beneficiaries became a lesser priority and it became unsustainable for CiC to continue the project. However we were successful in establishing ExCell as a stand-alone cooperative which continued to employ the original staff Dave Nicholson and Ormond Williams. ExCell cooperative continues to offer job placements to ex-prisoners and the vulnerable.

In the case of Recycle IT, CiC supported four beneficiaries to become the Directors of the company and helped them to obtain cooperative status. Three years on they are still trading successfully.

Salford Methodist Day-care Centre

This was an example of CiC supporting a local Church meeting local need by providing staff and management services to run a range of activities including luncheon for the elderly within the confines of Salford Methodist Church.

This project ran for over eight years and was wound down in anticipation of the new building to replace the existing Church.