Carla’s Story

Why Voice is Important

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.  

Carla’s Story

ESF Community Grants



ESF Community Grants are part of the European Social Fund (ESF) programme and the aim of the fund is to help unemployed people progress towards employment through access to learning and training opportunities. The programme is managed across the York and North Yorkshire by Better Connect.   Selby District AVS is a delivery organisation based

Young Carers Day – Tuesday the 16th March 2021

Blog Carers Plus



Each year Carers Trust organises Young Carers Awareness Day. The purpose of the day is to raise public awareness of the challenges faced by young people because of their caring role, and to campaign for greater support for young carers and their needs.   There are a number of our delivery partners who support young

Hello, and happy LGBT+ History Month!

Blog LGBT+



I’ve got the honour of sharing a bit of modern queer history and also talking a little about where we’ve got to today. There is a long and important history of the struggles the queer community have faced and fought over decades past. In New York, 1969, police raided the Stonewall Inn, which was one

International Day of Persons with Disability – 3rd December 2020

Blog Disability Purple Patch



Thursday 3 December is the UN International Day of Persons with Disabilities (IDPD). Introduced in 1992, the IDPD aims to promote the rights and well-being of disabled people across society. This year’s theme is ‘Building Back Better: toward a disability-inclusive, accessible and sustainable post COVID-19 World’. We hope you’re able to take part. We want

Wellbeing at Work – Joe’s Story

Blog Mental Health Wellbeing Resources



We’ve been focusing on mental health and wellbeing this week after celebrating World Mental Health Day last weekend. Joe works for us as ATI Programmes Co-ordinator and had some thoughts about the importance of appropriate policies at work and the impact on staff wellbeing. “Working at Better Connect, it feels like our wellbeing is genuinely

‘I feel very lucky to have found a home here!’

Blog Careers Meet the Team



As part of our recruitment campaign, we will be sharing daily interviews with staff members where they explain a bit about who they are, what they do at Better Connect and what they enjoy the most about their job roles. Todays interview is with.. Hannah Introduce yourself! Hi my name is Hannah! I have worked

It is very hard to pick my favorite thing about working at Better Connect because I have so many!

Blog Careers Meet the Team



As part of our recruitment campaign, we will be sharing daily interviews with staff members where they explain a bit about who they are, what they do and what they enjoy the most about their job roles. Introduce yourself! Hi, I’m Helen. I have worked at Better Connect since February 2019 Why did you want

‘Everyone has their own space to fill, and is supported to achieve whatever their potential may be.’

Blog Careers Meet the Team



As part of our recruitment campaign, we will be sharing daily interviews with staff members where they explain a bit about who they are, what they do at YCL and what they enjoy the most about their job roles. Today is.. Lucie! Introduce yourself! Hello, my name is Lucie and I am the Finance Manager