A ‘hot off the press’ video of a recent Police led £20,000 participatory budgeting (PB) event on the Higher Folds estate, near Wigan. One part of a wider initiative that saw PB grant making projects take place across Greater Manchester in the winter of 2014/15. That altogether distributed well over £250,000 for community projects into some of the most disadvantaged neighbourhoods in the UK.
This film was made for free by a local media company who were inspired by the simple idea of the community making decisions for themselves. By leveraging in-kind support like this (and by engaging with public sector partners, who contributed over £75,000 in match funds, as well as their staff time and experience) the ‘social’ value of the total Greater Manchester wide programme was much larger than simply the money involved.
Higher Folds We Decide was one part of a learning programme supported by Mutual Gain. Across the wider programme over 2800 local people directly participated, many through attending events like this one. The funding distributed will reach many more.
