News
One of the 3 strategic goals of Better Connect is to Inspire Change. This involves promoting social inclusion as an essential part of creating vibrant, productive and prosperous communities.
We aim to inspire change in 3 ways:
- Sharing participants stories – Through our projects, our partners have supported thousands of participants. We know that behind these big numbers, each person has their own individual story of how they have been supported to transform their lives. We are delighted that some of these people have chosen to share their stories with us. And now, we get to share those stories with you.
- Thinkpieces and blogs – Our staff and partners have a huge amount of knowledge on lots of issues regarding inclusion, diversity, wellbeing and employment. Some of this comes from their work and education and much of it comes from lived experience. We create and share blogs and thinkpieces written by our staff and partners to raise awareness and contribute positively to the conversation about these key issues.
- Representation – We are honoured to represent social inclusion issues and the voluntary and community sector in multiagency groups and policy formation. We do this by listening to our partners and participants and using our platforms to amplify their voices and perspectives. We connect policy makers with people on the ground to ensure that policies and funding have the greatest positive impact in communities.
Celebrating Pride Month! 🏳️🌈
Blog
Careers
Internal
LGBT+
Meet the Team
Mental Health
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In celebration of Pride month, today we’re hearing from our lovely Programme Manager, Joe, about his recent appointment as a board member at York LGBT Forum – and his experience attending York Pride as a volunteer with this fantastic charity! York Pride 2024 I recently joined the board of York LGBT Forum, a wonderful
Luke’s Story on RISE
Blog
Impact
Mental Health
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RISE
Rise2Thrive
As part of our RISE celebration series and as we conclude the programme, today the focus is on Luke’s journey with RISE partner Foundation UK, and dedicated Selby & Harrogate based Keyworker, Joanna (Jo). Based across the North of England, Foundation UK have been working with care leavers, domestic abuse victims,
Launching SHINE ☀️
Blog
Impact
Mental Health
news item
SHINE
Thriving at Work
After the launch of Rise2Thrive last week, we’re doubly excited to share with you that we’ve been successful in securing another new partnership programme, SHINE (Supporting Health Interventions, Neurodiversity, and Employment), which will operate across East Riding! SHINE is funded via the Government’s UKSPF fund and distributed through The East Riding of Yorkshire’s Council.
Launching Rise2Thrive
Blog
Impact
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RISE
Rise2Thrive
Thriving at Work
We are excited to share with you that we have been successful at securing a new partnership programme across York and North Yorkshire, Rise2Thrive! Rise2Thrive is funded through the governments UKSPF fund, and distributed across North Yorkshire Council and City of York Council. What is Rise2Thrive? Building off the success from our previous programmes,
Up For RISE – Celebrating Up For Yorkshire & their RISE Participants!
Blog
Impact
Mental Health
news item
RISE
Over the past few weeks, our Impact Team have been especially busy visiting our partners and listening to participant stories across our projects! This week we’re celebrating Selby’s Up For Yorkshire, having recently visited and facilitated a discussion with a few of their RISE participants. Spearheaded by a team of vibrant staff passionate about
Multiply – Kian’s Story
Blog
Impact
multiply
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The Impact Team have been busy at Better Connect recently, collecting stories across our programmes and hearing about how the support is truly changing peoples lives. This month, we had the pleasure of meeting Kian who had received support from CJ. CJ works for York Based CIC Coterminous and is a keyworker on the
Celebrating Go4it & The Impact of RISE
Blog
Mental Health
news item
RISE
At Better Connect, we want to celebrate our partners and the fantastic work they do across our programmes! Last week we had the pleasure of visiting the team at Go4It and spent the day with them learning more about their team, their stories and what they do. Scarborough based, Go4it are passionate about people
Community Fridges, Flexible Starts & Numeracy Support- How Blue Dolphin are Supporting Their Team Through Multiply
Blog
Employer Engagement
multiply
news item
Thriving at Work
As part of the Multiply scheme, our Multiply partners are keen to engage with a range of businesses, big and small, to recalibrate how employers are thinking about recruitment, upskilling, and workplace support through a numerical lens. In line with this employee/employer focus, one of our partners, Autism Plus, have been dropping into workplaces
Inspiring Leaders – Jacky and Joe
Blog
Careers
Meet the Team
news item
RISE
Thriving at Work
Developing your leaders and managers in a way that supports your business is key to your success. Pro-Development work with managers and leaders to help them to develop their skills and confidence enabling them to become an inspiring and authentic leader. They offer a range of support, programmes, tools and techniques for people at
Apertures, City Maps & Budgeting- Up for Yorkshire on Jon’s Multiply Journey
Blog
Mental Health
multiply
news item
RISE
Up for Yorkshire are one of our fantastic partners on the Multiply programme, and have been running a range of sessions across year 2 of provision to inspire numbers confidence and encourage participants to utilise their maths skills on the daily. From bushcraft to budgeting, to cooking, sewing, and photography geared sessions, the team are
Multiply’s Magic- Navigating Numbers With Coterminous
Blog
LGBT+
multiply
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Wellbeing Resources
A couple of weeks ago the Impact team paid a visit to York Travellers Trust. Light, bright and welcoming, the Trust is a cohesive community space for Gypsy and Traveller Communities, which doubles up as a foodbank, education centre, community-hub, and refuge for meaningful conversations. Coterminous, one of our fantastic partners on the Multiply
Report Launch! A Qualitative Evaluation of Better Connect’s Thriving at Work: Workplace Support
Blog
Disability
Mental Health
news item
Research & Reports
Thriving at Work
Last week, we launched our in-house Thriving at Work report, and as part of the round-up, today we’re excited to launch our evaluative report on the 121 Workplace Support strand of the programme – read it here. Led by Dr Jane Suter, Dr Annie Irvine, and former TAW Programme Manager, Emma Lyons, this report