We May Be a Charity, But We Don’t Do Charity

Last year, Curricula and Co got the chance to get involved with some of the work local charity Mancunian Way has been doing to create positive change in deprived neighbourhoods in the city. Over the next few weeks, we will be finding out loads about the charity, from how they began, to the work they are currently doing.

How Mancunian Way is helping vulnerable people to help themselves
Six years ago, looking out his office window at the Manchester City Centre police station, Nick Buckley witnessed the rioting and looting as it unfolded on the streets, as angry local people let rip on a city they felt was letting them down in so many ways. This sparked a vision for a new kind of charity

Having worked in disadvantaged communities for a number of years, Nick had seen needs that were not being met. Taking voluntary redundancy from his current job, he used his lump-sum payout as capital to fund the set-up of Mancunian Way.

Over the years, this ground-breaking organisation has won too many prestigious awards to count. It has a number of different projects that are uniquely and purposefully designed to meet people where they are. Its aim is to get to the root of the social problems that are rampant in the inner city neighbourhoods, rather than just continuing to mop up the consequences.

These initiatives are based on the idea that empowering individuals to make intelligent and sensible choices and encouraging them to take personal responsibility is the way to create real change that will last.

The dedicated and passionate team at Mancunian Way go above and beyond the call of duty, working at unsociable hours, in order to reach people in the best way possible, whenever and wherever they need it. They do the work that most other organisations are not willing or able to do.

Mancunian Way has a unique approach to the way they deal with the public, and people in need. They take a “tough love” approach, and are not in a hurry to hand out sympathy and pity in a way that will encourage victim mentalities.

They aim to give people the wake-up calls and reality checks they need to get back on track. They put the right tools into people’s hands, and teach them how to use them effectively, pointing them in the direction of other services and organisations that will be able to help them in the way they need it. They help to open people’s eyes up to opportunities that they may not have been aware of before, and teach them how to help themselves using the resources that are already available to them.

In the words of charity leader, Nick Buckley, “we may be a charity, but we don’t do charity!”

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