Together we can make Yorkshire a place
where every person can thrive
in their life and work

Services

What we do

We design and lead innovative partnership projects that transform the lives of people across Yorkshire

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Who we are

A small team with a big ambition to create a Yorkshire where every person is empowered to thrive in their life and work

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Our Impact

Inspirational stories of change, growth and transformation across our community-focused  programmes

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Welcome

Better Connect is a Knaresborough-based non-profit organisation that aims to create a Yorkshire where every person is empowered to thrive in their life and work.

Founded in 2007, we have an established track record of leading successful partnership projects and working with a wide range of locally based partners in the heart of communities.

We partner with organisations across all sectors, with a particular focus and specialism of supporting and strengthening organisations from the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector.

We believe that locally rooted organisations with a strong social mission who work in effective partnership with others have the biggest impact on individuals and communities. We exist to create those partnerships and unlock the potential of local organisations.

Meet Our Team

What we do

We exist to create Better Connections for people and organisations across Yorkshire. All our work contributes to our 3 strategic goals

Transform Lives

Transform Lives

We design and lead innovative partnership programmes that transform the lives of people across Yorkshire

Empower Partners

Empower Partners

We provide specialist support to partners to become more impactful, resilient and sustainable

Inspire Change

Inspire Change

We promote social inclusion as an essential part of creating vibrant, productive and prosperous communities

Our Projects

Rise

Rise

RISE is an employability programme for people in North Yorkshire and York who are economically inactive and aged 18 or over (or 15-17 and NEET). It is for people furthest from work with multiple complex barriers e.g. mental/physical health issues.

Multiply

Multiply

Multiply is the government’s new £560 million programme to help transform the lives of hundreds of thousands of adults across the UK and will be delivered through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.

Thriving at Work

Thriving at Work

The project aims to support more people to thrive at work. It has a particular focus on supporting inclusive workplaces that can unlock the potential of staff who are neurodiverse, disabled or experience mental health challenges.

Action Towards Inclusion

Action Towards Inclusion

Action Towards Inclusion is a life changing programme that offers support to adults in York, North Yorkshire and the East Riding and helps people into employment and training.

News and Updates

West Yorkshire Rise2Thrive Launch – Did you miss it?

Blog news item RISE Thriving at Work

  On Thursday 7th December, we ran a virtual launch for our new partnership offering Rise2Thrive West Yorkshire. If you missed out, check out the video below for information about Better Connect, what we do and how we do it and our vision for Rise2Thrive. If you are interested in applying, click here If you

Transformation, Empowerment and Social Change: Real Impact across Yorkshire

Action Towards Inclusion Blog Internal news item RISE Thriving at Work

  The Better Connect team are excited to officially launch our Impact Report! Back in July our Impact Team began the process of collaborating with Research Retold on bringing the impact of our projects, alongside our brand and story to life! We’re delighted to share the finished product with you (click below) Transformation, empowerment and

Better Connect(ions) – Peer Support Meeting Two

Blog Mental Health news item RISE

  A couple of weeks ago, Better Connect hosted the second Peer Support meeting for the RISE partnership. Held at the Wesley Centre in Harrogate (a known community-hub) it was a great second opportunity for our partners to network, trouble-shoot, and engage in a group art therapy session. With the Peer Support tool still in

New UKSPF Partnership Opportunity in West Yorkshire.. Apply now!

Blog news item RISE Thriving at Work

  We will be running an online event on the 7th December @ 9.30 to talk about Rise2Thrive and meet potential delivery partners, want to come along? Book online here  It’s an exciting time as we start to see the People & Skills funding opportunities under UKSPF for Year 3 (April 2024- March 25), which

Former ATI Participant ‘Sign with Sarah-Jade’ wins New Business of The Year Award 2023!

Action Towards Inclusion Blog news item RISE

  Today we’re celebrating Sarah-Jade, one of our former participants on ATI who has just gone on to win York Mix Radio’s New Business of The Year 2023 with her business ‘Sign with Sarah-Jade’! Sarah is a British Sign Language (BSL) teacher, who teaches a range of classes from babies to adults in York and

Better Connections- Wellbeing for Keyworkers

Blog Meet the Team Mental Health news item RISE Thriving at Work Wellbeing Resources

  This week, we’ve shared several posts covering the impact of our former Thriving at Work programme in honour of International Happiness at Work Week, and today, we’re spotlighting our keyworkers & partners as we begin to focus more heavily on supporting their happiness at work. After several discussions about keyworker challenges, the team came

Rise 2 Thrive – New Partnership Opportunity for North Yorkshire

Action Towards Inclusion news item RISE Thriving at Work

  It’s an exciting time as we start to see the People & Skills funding opportunities under UKSPF for Year 3 (April 2024-25), which will be released by various Local Authorities in the coming weeks! After the success of our RISE and Thriving at Work programmes, Better Connect are excited to announce we will be

Our Multiply Team Updates!

Blog Internal Meet the Team multiply news item

  What have the team been up to? Our Multiply team have had an exciting few months managing Multiply and connecting with our wonderful partners. Formerly both part of our ATI team, Christine and Sophia have been keen to get stuck into a new venture and have a hand in making maths accessible. They’ve represented

Literacy Day- Our Team’s Favourite Books

Blog Internal Meet the Team multiply news item RISE Wellbeing Resources

  In a reading slump? In honour of International Literacy Day, today we’re sharing some of our favourite books with you from across the Better Connect Team! Literacy is an important part of life & learning globally. This year’s theme for Literacy Day is ‘Promoting literacy for a world in transition: Building the foundation for sustainable

International Overdose Awareness Day – Joe’s Story

Blog Internal Mental Health news item

        The 31st August 2023 is International Overdose Awareness Day. Today, we share a deeply personal story from one of our team at Better Connect. Joe sadly lost his sister due to a drug overdose last year and wants to share his story in hope that it raises awareness, educates and helps

ATI Participant Stories- Louise, Laura & Katrina

Action Towards Inclusion Blog Mental Health news item RISE

  Following the publication of our recent Action Towards Inclusion (ATI) stats, today we’re celebrating three incredible women who took part in the project. Several months back, we had the opportunity to visit one of our partner organisations, Kyra Women’s Project, and speak to three women who were supported by them on ATI. Louise, Katrina

Celebrating ATI’s Accomplishments!

Action Towards Inclusion Blog news item

  Most of you will remember in April when we bid a final farewell to Action Towards Inclusion and planted (both literal and figurative) seeds for future projects. Since then, we’ve seen a few buds, launched RISE, Multiply has more or less entered year two of delivery, TAW has come to a close, and ATI’s

Balancing Policy, Process, and Parental Responsibilities- Starting Life as a Working Mum

Blog Internal Meet the Team news item Wellbeing Resources

        Debs, our Operations Manager (and in-house organization enthusiast), recently returned to work after having her son. She’s shared her experience with us, and some helpful insights along the way. It’s great to have you back Debs!  It’s a given that having a child completely turns your life upside down.  You know

“It’s easy to get into debt – but hard to get out” – Multiply Participant Stories

Blog multiply news item

  A few weeks back, we had the pleasure of visiting Multiply keyworker CJ Allison and his participants Dan and David as they battled through some budgets, talked financial self-advocacy, and discussed self-employment tips and tricks. Multiply is the government’s new multi-million-pound programme to help transform the lives of hundreds of thousands of adults across

Celebrating International Youth Day!

Blog news item RISE

    Saturday 12th August marks International Youth Day, and this year the theme is ‘Green Skills for Youth: Towards a Sustainable World’. The United Nations define green skills as, ‘’knowledge, abilities, values and attitudes needed to live in, develop and support a sustainable and resource-efficient society’’. The UN report that 40% of all jobs

New Role – Business Development Manager!

Blog Internal news item

We are excited to announce that Emma is our new Business Development Manager at Better Connect! She will be working closely with the senior leadership team to find new funding and partnership programme opportunities that support organisations and people to thrive in their life and work. She will be working closely with existing and potential

Meet Team Impact!

Blog Internal Meet the Team news item

  We are excited to announce that we have a new Impact Team at Better Connect! Hannah and Laura will be responsible for understanding, demonstrating and showcasing the impact that Better Connect is having across its business, programmes and partnerships. Working closely with colleagues, partners, participants and stakeholders, they will be gathering information in a

A Successful RISE Programme Launch

news item RISE

  On Tuesday 18th July, we officially launched RISE– our latest project, with the help of our fantastic partnership and The Marketing Optimist. Hosted at The Balcony Sports Bar in Harrogate, the RISE Partnership came together for the first time to celebrate the launch, share successes, and collaborate on a peer support tool to keep

ATI Participant Stories – Ray

Action Towards Inclusion Blog news item

In honour of Mental Health Awareness week last month, we’re back with another participant story featuring Ray, Orb, a Dancing for Wellbeing class, and a Coordinator with two left feet. Ray joined Action Towards Inclusion (ATI) at the end of October 2021. I had the opportunity to meet with him several weeks ago to attend

Anxiety – Mental Health Awareness Week

Uncategorized

        Anxiety is the theme of Mental Health Awareness Week 2023 (15th-21st May). We’re proud to support the raising of awareness, and hope to signpost some genuinely useful resources. In this post, we will touch on: What is anxiety? How can it present? What impact can it have? How can you manage