Mike Wild's Blog

Before Christmas, Mike Wild (Chief Executive of Macc) and Nigel Rose (Macc’s Strategic Lead on Commissioning) met with Geoff Little (Deputy Chief Executive of Manchester City Council) and Carol Culley (Assistant Chief Executive, Finance and Performance).  We wanted to discuss the impact not just of the next wave of public sector cuts but the prolonged effects of recession. We also wanted to explore the Council’s views on how the voluntary and community sector can rise to meet the challenges faced by the communities in Manchester.

At our Spirit of Manchester awards event last month one of the categories was for Most Successful Campaign. We wanted to acknowledge campaigning work because we’ve always believed that it’s the job of charities not just to meet needs but to drive change for the longer term. The history of social change in this country has been driven by the campaigning efforts of groups for centuries.

I've mentioned previously that there's a danger that this blog becomes a series of rants about things I'm angry about. Well not today, at least!

Our State of the Voluntary Sector report shows there are over 3000 voluntary and community groups in Manchester. I don't know them all but I do know a lot of them and one of the great pleasures of my job is that I get to see some of the amazing things happening in groups across Manchester and meet some fantastic people.

This morning I was in the happy position of being able to present our new research into the state of the voluntary sector in Manchester. It has been a long-held ambition of mine to be able to show the full extent of the enormous contribution which voluntary organisations, community groups, social enterprises and the community work of faith groups make to the city. 

One of the dangers for me in writing a blog is that I'll end up writing only about things I'm angry about (there seems to be quite a lot at the moment) and it will become a terribly depressing read. However, I'm not going to apologise for the bleak picture I'm about to paint because it's what's really happening to people in our communities.