WhyNotChange wins Prime Minister’s Big Society Award
WhyNotChange, a social enterprise which helps individuals and organisations to make a difference, is the latest Big Society Award winner.
The founder Melanie Bryan has given her time to inspire and work with hundreds of women, young people, social enterprises, charities and businesses.
Her achievements include setting up an enterprise event for women across the North West, providing practical enterprise support to students and setting up a consortium of charities and social enterprises to win public sector contracts.
The Prime Minister said:
Melanie is an inspiration and clearly has great energy and passion to change people’s lives. Her work to support enterprise in the North West and help others get on in life is to be greatly admired. She is the embodiment of the Big Society at work, and while not everyone will have the time and energy of Melanie I hope it will inspire others to think about the small things they can do to make a big difference in their community.
The founder Melanie Bryan said:
This is a huge and very unexpected honour. It’s a fantastic accolade not only for us, but also for the amazing people and organisations who have joined us on our journey, generously giving their time, skills and experience. If everybody makes just one small change the cumulative impact would be phenomenal. We hope that our story will encourage you to believe that you too can make a positive difference and to start taking action today to make it happen.
For more information on WhyNotChange visit: www.whynotchange.co.uk
More on the Big Society Awards
The Prime Minister recently launched a new weekly award that recognises the best examples of the Big Society in action taking place all around the country.
As well as celebrating the fantastic work already being carried out across the country, the Prime Minister hopes that the Big Society Awards will inspire many more people to get involved in their community.
The Prime Minister said:
There are some amazing projects and remarkable voluntary work going on in towns and cities up and down the country, by all kinds of organisations from large enterprises to tiny grassroots schemes and inspirational individuals.
These awards are a chance to pay tribute to those making a valuable contribution to their community, the real champions of the Big Society, but perhaps more importantly, I hope they will motivate many others to take action, get involved and drive change in their area.
Individuals, businesses, charities, community groups and other organisations are all eligible if they illustrate the Big Society in action.
These might be:
- People or groups who are bringing their community together and helping to give people more power to take decisions and shape their area
- People who are transforming our public services, staff setting up their own cooperatives, or new providers or frontline staff finding innovative ways to deliver better services to the public
- Or people who are giving their time and money to help others, the unsung heroes changing lives in every neighbourhood of the country.
People can submit nominations via the No 10 website. Nominees will then go through a selection process which will eventually involve a panel of previous winners and individuals from civil society organisations, Government and the private sector.
Award winners will receive a certificate from the Prime Minister and will be invited to a regular Big Society Award Winners Reception at Downing Street.
Read more: Nominate a Big Society Award winner