York social enterprise network
York Social Enterprise Network is a local coalition of social enterprises with a wide range of members, and their trading activities range from training provision, individual counselling and graphic design through to landscape gardening, building management services and manufacturing.
The work of social enterprises in York helps a wide range of people including those recovering from mental illness, people with learning difficulties and disabled people and their profits are used to tackle a variety of social problems such as child poverty, domestic violence and social exclusion.
Social Enterprises are businesses driven by a social or environmental purpose. There are 62,000 of them in the UK, contributing over £24bn to the economy, and employing approximately 800,000 people (2005-2007 data from the Annual Survey of Small Business UK). While many commercial businesses would consider themselves to have social objectives, social enterprises are distinctive because they have explicit social aims such as job creation, training or the provision of local services, alongside ethical values including a commitment to local capacity building and an asset lock. They are accountable to their members and the wider community for their social, environmental and economic impact, and indeed many voluntary organisations see social enterprise as a way to reduce their dependence on charitable donations and grants through trading activities.
York Social Enterprise Network meets every 2 months and has an email network. You can follow YSEN updates on twitter.
