Young people are often told they are the future of our communities, but they must be given meaningful opportunities to shape the systems, funding decisions and business ecosystems – now.

Together with young people, social enterprises, funders, policymakers, community organisations and business leaders we explored a vital question:

How can we create better pathways for young people to build businesses, organisations and ideas that deliver positive change for their communities?

Together with Young Manchester, we co-designed 5 calls to action:

Upskill: Fund programmes for community wealth
Fund programmes on how to start and sustain a social enterprise or community business – making it a realistic and sustainable option for young people.

Fair representation on funding decisions
Include young people on panels that distribute funding.

Democratise the data
Data and market research made accessible to both youth entrepreneurs and social enterprises.

Space for connection
Create spaces for young people to connect, build networks and turn ideas into action – from people taking their first steps to people already growing an enterprise.

Meet young people and communicate where they are
Communicate and collaborate to meet young people where they are, in the places they feel safe and connected. Such as, in practical social enterprise education spaces online, in schools and in youth clubs. These resources should be shared in ways young people can access them.

You can find out more about the work we’re doing to support Greater Manchester’s Social Economy by reading our case studies.

The GM Walking and Wheeling Fund (GMWWF) Grants Programme is offering grants of up to £7,000 to VCSE organisations to deliver projects to get more people walking and wheeling in the chillier months.

The Trauma Responsive Greater Manchester (GM) Fund is awarding grants of £5,000 to £10,000 to voluntary, community, and social enterprise (VCSE) organisations across Greater Manchester. The Fund is designed to support organisations to move beyond basic awareness of trauma and embed trauma-responsive environments within their services, systems, and settings.

In this blog, Kelly Duke, Projects and Partnerships Manager at 10GM, reflects on the joyful launch of the Spaces of Hope and Connection programme as part of the Live Well Spring Festival. She captures the energy, creativity and shared commitment in the room as VCSE organisations, communities and public sector partners came together to celebrate a bold investment in community‑led change across Greater Manchester.

A renewed Greater Manchester VCFSE Accord for 2026 – 2035 was signed by leaders across Greater Manchester’s public sector on 27 March, including the health and care system, and the Voluntary, Community, Faith and Social Enterprise sector (VCSE/VCFSE).

The Greater Manchester VCFSE Accord is a shared agreement between public services and the VCFSE sector, setting out how we will work together to improve outcomes for communities across Greater Manchester. It provides a framework for collaboration based on shared values, with a focus on involving communities, resourcing the VCFSE sector, and recognising its vital role in tackling inequalities.

As Accord Officers, 10GM supports delivery across a range of workstreams, including: Commissioning and Investment, Locality Engagement and Infrastructure, Supporting the Social Economy, Workforce, Data and Intelligence, Resilience, and more.

In 2023, 10GM invested in two VCSE infrastructure organisations in Greater Manchester to test out approaches that support Sport England and GM Moving’s ambition of ‘connecting communities’ to enable active lives for all.

This report highlights learning from investments in test and learn sites in Wigan and Bury from 2023 to 2025, exploring how community-based approaches can support people to move more. The report shares Bury VCFA and Groundwork Wigan’s project journeys, identifies enablers and blockers and discusses how integrating place-based and whole system approaches drives change.