Seven years ago today PIE became a registered company - a proud Social Enterprise looking to support young people to become future ready.
Delivery started in January 2018 with pilot Future Ready programmes at Chorlton High, then followed by work at Harrop Fold, Manchester Communication Academy and The East Manchester Academy.
We were proud to receive the 'Do It' Award and funding from UnLtd to start our journey which helped to fund initial resources for programmes and core set up costs. We wouldn't have been able to do it without that initial investment and most importantly the injection of belief from an outside organisation!
In October 2018, Beth started the School for Social Entrepreneurs Start Up programme, travelling to Liverpool once a month to work on the development of PIE with other fellow budding social entrepreneurs. This was a turning point for development of the organisation and we have continued to thrive and develop with support and investment from SSE ever since - including Beth winning funding via the Future Fellows Fund in April this year to support the development of our marketing and impact reporting and supporting the sustainability and development of our trade income.
September 2019, Beth decided to take the plunge and welcome another team member, Anna. Anna's initial role was to support Beth in all sorts of ways, from administrative tasks to report writing. Anna was soon joined by Caroline to help support the delivery of programmes in January 2020, and she played a vital part in PIE's growth until July 2023, when she went on to lead the amazing work being done at DISC Manchester as head of college. Gemma joined the team in 2020 when her and Beth started to plot out various ways to support the community through the Covid Pandemic. She formerly joined the team in September 2021, and now leads on our community projects. Munji joined us in September 2023 as our school delivery co-ordinator, and has helped to hugely expand our school work in the time since she joined. Ciara then joined us in Feb 2024 as a project support officer for the EPP project, after completing university placements and internships.
We have been proud to support many young people with work placements, part time work and volunteering opportunities - including 10 university student placements, and numerous young people who have volunteered with us (including our current superstars Rex and Will!).
We have had so many other people support the delivery of our programmes over the years - with Antony, Lee, Millie, Evie and Helen being core support members of the team over the years. Our ongoing partnerships with local organisations have been vital to our ongoing growth and development - you can read more about this in our newsletter next week!
As we look to celebrate our 7th year - it's amazing to look back at the work we have done. We have supported over 5000 young people, delivered in more than 30 different educational settings and provided hundreds of hours of funded community support. We can't wait to see what Year 8 and beyond brings!
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