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 ATI’s Accomplishments!

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

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

“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!

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!

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!

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

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

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

Planting dreams, aspirations and hopes from the Action Towards Inclusion Programme

Planting dreams, aspirations and hopes from the Action Towards Inclusion Programme

Action Towards Inclusion Blog news item



  Following the project’s end on 31st March this year, it’s finally time to say goodbye to Action Towards Inclusion, celebrate six successful years, and make good on our green-fingered promises here at Better Connect. Throughout ATI, our partnership has supported those furthest from the labour market traverse a range of barriers to employment and

ATI Participant Stories – Meet Harry

ATI Participant Stories – Meet Harry

Action Towards Inclusion Blog news item



  Laura works as the Participant Experience Coordinator on our Action Towards Inclusion Programme. She often reads and hears stories from the participants who access the support and has decided to share some of those in a blog series called ‘ATI Participant Stories’.. Today we hear Harry’s story! Harry has been on Action Towards Inclusion

Multiply – Celebrating Year One!

Multiply – Celebrating Year One!

Blog multiply news item



  On Friday 31st March we held an event at Priory Street in York to celebrate our first year of Multiply! You may be thinking.. but you’ve just launched this programme? Well our amazing partnership had only 3 months to deliver on their targets from the date we received the funding in December and we

Multiply – Joe’s top 3 money saving tips

Multiply – Joe’s top 3 money saving tips

Blog multiply news item



As part of Multiply, our team will be sharing some top tips around finance, household bills, budgeting and numeracy.. this time we hear from Joe with his top 3 money saving tips! I’ve felt extremely lucky during the cost of living crisis. Although some of my costs have certainly gone up, I’ve not been hit