Meet the Mancunian - Talking social value and supporting the youth with Matt Richardson

Meet the Mancunian -6.2- Matt Richardson transcript

Intro

Hello and a warm Mancunian welcome to all my incredible listeners out there. I'm Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe, your friendly host, and you've just tuned into the Sixth season of the Meet the Mancunian podcast where I share remarkable social impact stories from the heart of Manchester every Tuesday throughout the season.

This podcast is a celebration of the unsung heroes, the change makers and the passionate souls that are making a real difference in our vibrant city. From social enterprises to non-profits and community groups, I bring you the voices of worker bees and volunteers all coming together for a common cause.

Through heartfelt conversations my guests share their experiences, dreams, and unwavering commitment to making a difference. From the challenges they've overcome to the triumphs that fuel that passion, their stories will leave you moved, enlightened and brimming with hope.

Join me on this audio adventure as my guests and I explore the transformative power of collective action. And the remarkable impact we can create when we unite for a common cause. Their tales are a testament to the power of community, collaboration, and the indomitable Mancunian spirit. They not only address pressing issues right here in Manchester but also offer insights and inspiration that resonate far beyond these boundaries.

So, whether you're commuting, on a run, or just relaxing at home. I invite you to tune in on Apple, Spotify, Google, or any of your favourite podcasting platforms. You can also log on to my website, www.meetthemancunian.co.uk. Let's embark on this journey of discovery and inspiration.

For my new listeners, you can catch up on the incredible stories from the first five seasons at www.meetthemancunian.co.uk, where you'll also find out more about my own journey as a podcaster. And to all my returning listeners, I can't thank you enough for your support. You make this podcast possible and I'm immensely grateful.

So, join me as I've continued to share these inspiring tales of change and community support from the beating heart of Manchester. Together, we can spread a bit of good news, spark meaningful conversations, and inspire positive action. Thank you for being a part of the Meet the Mancunian community.

Welcome to the second episode of Season Six of the Meet the Mancunian podcast: social impact stories from Manchester.

Passionate about creating social value, we hear from Matt Richardson, Social Value Lead, Growth Company and Chair, Greater Manchester Social Value Network.

Episode 6.2

[00:03:05] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: I'm delighted to introduce my guest, Matt Richardson, Social Value Lead, Growth Company and Chair, Greater Manchester Social Value Network.

Thanks so much, Matt, for taking the time.

[00:03:16] Matt Richardson: Glad to be here. Thank you.

[00:03:18] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: Tell us first about your passion for supporting the community. Where did that start?

[00:03:22] Matt Richardson: I think that's probably come from my mom from seeing her retrain in her forties to become an occupational therapist. She has always looked after people. She's always been an extremely caring person. Works evenings, weekends to support me and my brother as well.

So, I think that element of trying to support people and if you've got an opportunity to do so, then take it. I think that's where it's come from, really.

[00:03:44] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: That's really interesting.

What exactly does the term social value refer to? That's always an interesting term that I looked up online and I found differing interpretation. So, it'll be really helpful if you could explain to our listeners.

[00:03:58] Matt Richardson: I think it doesn't help when you see lots of different definitions. For me, what social value means to me is how can, whatever you're doing, whatever decisions you make, whether it's operations within your job, tasks, activities, how much of that activity can be squeezed to benefit either you, your neighbours, your colleagues, your friends, businesses you work with, the community you're based in.

How can those activities be thought out to squeeze as much value out of those as possible? And much impact. I often use the analogy where, you have a stone, you throw it into the middle of the pond, that stone is the activity or whatever it is you're doing. How far can we stretch those ripples once that stone has hit that water?

And how can we maximise that stone? Ultimately, I want to try and make the biggest splash for what of a better phrase, to improve that activity and improve that impact for everybody.

[00:04:47] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: And can you give us an example.

[00:04:49] Matt Richardson: Sure. I think from my nature of working within business support, I think I would often say to businesses, how can you review how you are supporting your staff? Are you paying the real living wage for your staff? Do you offer training opportunities for your staff? Do you offer flexible work and obviously off the back of Covid now, do people have the opportunity to work from home or do they work flexibility if they've got care responsibilities at home, how can all these things that can intertwine a day-to-day working life can make people's lives easier?

And if people feel more confident in work, people more feel more relaxed in work, you are ultimately going to get the best from people in work as well.

[00:05:25] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: Thanks so much for sharing that. So, you're working mostly with enterprises rather than with employees directly is it?

[00:05:32] Matt Richardson: That's correct. So, I work for the Growth company, so the Growth Company's a social enterprise. We've been running for over 30 years now, predominantly within Greater Manchester, but we cover all areas of the north and have got sites all across the country.

Main areas that we focus on are three specific notes. We cover business support. We look at education and skills, and we look at recruitment and employment services as well.

[00:05:55] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: Thanks for sharing that, Matt, and I'm really interested to know how you got involved with the Greater Manchester Social Value Network. Tell us more about that.

[00:06:03] Matt Richardson: Sure. When I became the Social Value lead for the Growth company over three years ago now, I was introduced to the Social Value Network. Social Value Network itself had been running for a number of years before I arrived. And it's ultimately to try and harness collaboration within Greater Manchester for the benefit of Greater Manchester.

So bringing organisations together, whether it's the private sector, public sector, voluntary community sector, and bringing those skills and experiences together to leverage change for the better of residents within the region.

I think looking at things around how we can support policy development. Obviously looking at Greater Manchester Combined Authorities social value policy, looking at the social value framework within the area as well. How we can shape how businesses in particular can support the social value agenda. But ultimately, it's a group of like-minded people trying to drive the social value agenda within the area.

[00:06:54] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: Thank you. That does sound like they're doing some really great work and it's great that you can bring different organisations together. And then you also volunteer with Careers and Enterprise Company. Tell us about that.

[00:07:06] Matt Richardson: I do. I think probably my entire career I've worked with young people. It's the most rewarding thing I've ever done. I used to be a sports coach many years ago, so that's how I got into my first couple of jobs. I used to work in schools around Salford, predominantly working at school clubs, holiday clubs.

Then went into full-time education, worked in prisons, colleges, et cetera, and that really helped shape my ability to work with different audiences and having to tailor your communication style for different audiences. And from there I went into working for a national drug and alcohol charity which really gave me an insight into social prescribing.

In essence, social prescribing in terms of trying to reduce the pressures on primary healthcare, the NHS, et cetera, and how can we look at alternative therapies or behaviour change to support people's healthy lifestyle. So, more exercise, improvement around nutrition and diet.

And then I was delivering a number of health and wellbeing programs for various services around the country and talking about workplace wellbeing and the impact of that. And then that's where I came to the Business Growth hub that is an entity of the Growth Company and would then start to work with businesses around how they can improve staff wellbeing, employee engagement. There's still a lot of work that needs to be done in that area. It then led me to working with businesses. Obviously, I then wasn't able to work with young people anymore, so I was missing that bit that I really enjoyed.

So, an opportunity came up to work with a career as an enterprise company, which was essence initiated as a matchmaking service really, trying to engage volunteers to get matched with a high school within Greater Manchester. And you would then work with that school's careers advisor or staff member who's looking after careers curriculum and how you could develop that careers curriculum for the students, so I've worked with Oasis Academy Media City in Salford.

And for people listening who may or may not be aware, it's also where BBC and ITV are based which, if you look out of that window of the school looks great. And if you look out of the opposite window, it's in Odsal which is one of the most deprived areas in Salford, there's a high percentage of parents that don't work.

There's high percentage of students who have never even left Salford, which blows my mind sometimes thinking around, the impacts of social mobility, the fact that they've never even been into the city centre before just is baffling really, and that just can't happen for young people.

So, I've worked with them voluntarily to try and bring in businesses, get young people exposed to the different type of jobs that are available to people. because unless young people see the types of jobs that are out there, they're never going to know what's available. And the more exposure they get to different types of roles, the different sectors, what workplaces start to look like, it can then start to raise aspirations of those young people.

So, appreciate that was a long-winded way of getting round to how I got into that role.

[00:09:52] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: That's really interesting and it's nice that you were missing working with young people. And I really like what you said you're doing because I did something very similar with charity in India where they were helping children in the slums find positive role models through mentoring and job placement and really helping them may take those first steps. Many of them are going to college for the very first time in their whole families, many generations of people who hadn't been widely educated. Exactly like you said, if you don't know what the opportunities are, you'll think you need to do the work that your parents did.

[00:10:28] Matt Richardson: Absolutely. I think over Covid, obviously massively impacted volunteering, engagement, everything as we all know which had in this instance had a huge effect on the young people not being able to go to workplaces, see what they were like because everybody was working from home. We then had to use technology such as this for businesses to dial in, which is great, but the young people still don't necessarily get to see what workplaces were like. It was still something, but it just made me open my eyes to it. We'd focused on businesses that were local to that school because it was a case of the students can walk there, they can see what the businesses looked like.

But actually, really the use of technology meant we could, in essence, if we wanted to reach out to any company in the world and have a call. And we did just that with quite a number of organisations. One of the most meaningful was somebody, a young guy -he's 25, 26 at the time.

And he actually didn't talk to the young people about anything to do with his job. He spoke about, he was originally from Manchester was around 21, 22, and he moved to Dubai. A career opportunity came out there, but he spoke to young people around the decision making process of moving to another country. Understanding a new culture, understanding new language, starting from scratch around these own social networks. And it just, you can just see the light bulbs go off with young people of somebody's walks that path and what the decisions were that took them to that. And the young people found it very inspiring, as did I.

And I think it just makes you think about sometimes the confines we put ourselves in or young people in when actually there's things that are a little bit further a feel that might be of use to them as well.

[00:12:03] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: Absolutely, again, it's about opening up to new opportunities and showing the way as one young man shared.

What are the challenges that you've faced in this wider journey of yours, of championing social value? It must not be always easy.

[00:12:18] Matt Richardson: I'd probably say from my perspective of being in a social value lead role and I'm sure anyone who is in a similar role, it can be quite a lonely role at some at times. I think in our organisation we've got 1500 plus members of staff. Big part of my role is looking for advocates within the organisation to help that change.

Because it can't just be myself in an organisation that drives starts. So, looking for advocates, looking for champions. We have an internal social value steering group, so I've got various staff from across the organisation.

We meet once a month. Look at the key agendas for the organisation and how we can leverage our participation in those agendas over the next couple of months. How can we be more robust as an organisation moving forward? We are a social enterprise, as I've mentioned, so we need to ensure we are doing what we say we are doing and ensuring that our decisions impact our staff, our suppliers, our customers, our communities right through the process.

I think what I find for businesses or organisations in particular, is a lot of organisations do social value. They just don't call it social value. And I see this all the time and I think sometimes that's around buzzwords that the sectors often use or the business community use.

And it can be very confusing. So, CSR, corporate social responsibility, which what it used to be called, which people still call now. Social values, social impact, the introduction of ESG, environment, social and governance, and even for someone who is in this role day to day, it can be confusing at times.

So, I do have a lot of sympathy for people who are trying to understand it because it's confusing. The problem with that is if it's confusing, people perhaps leave it alone. And then it stunts in the progress of the social value agenda generally. Whereas I think if we just spoke about thinking about your activity and your operations and just being more socially responsible on a day-to-day basis, I think that would help massively because there's so many tools out there to help you measure impacts.

Which again, I think can be very confusing for a lot of people. We've got tools that work with specific sectors. You've got tools that work with specific sizes. And I just think it can be very confusing for people.

Reach out to somebody or reach out to a community, reach out to a network, see what others have done previously and see what they use. Because as much as we want to drive social value, obviously if you're in a business community, you also want to look at how you're reporting on that, how you're monitoring that to ensure that it's doing as we envisage it, it would do so.

I think really looking at the tools and techniques to help you manage that impact is really key, but it is, very confusing. This is a shameless plug for our organisation, but there are organisations out there who are experts in this space that can support, listening to podcasts such as this, watching YouTube videos just all help bring people's knowledge to this subject to the fore really.

[00:15:15] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: Interestingly, the way I say it is Meet the Mancunian: social impact stories from Manchester. So, I don't use social value, I use social impact. So again, like you said, there are many ways to talk about people doing good for the community and the environment.

[00:15:33] Matt Richardson: It would be a lot easier if we said just do good. Honestly, I think it would be a lot easier. Just do good, think about what you do. What's the impact of that?

[00:15:41] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: That's true. What impact would you say you've made so far? And I'm happy for you to take this with your volunteering work or with your social value work as you think is best.

[00:15:52] Matt Richardson: I think anybody listening who's maybe thinking about getting into this area or thinking about what they can do to give back, I think my work with the schools has shifted slightly. So, I mentioned earlier that I often bring businesses or organisations into a school or take students to a workplace. It's shifted because that isn't necessarily sustainable.

I can't keep bringing different businesses in. Ultimately, the school needs to take accountability for that. My role has now changed within the school, looking at the overall careers’ curriculum. Now involved in the design of the curriculum and using labour market intelligence of what businesses are telling us to help shape the curriculum moving forward, which I think is huge really.

Because I think it's an opportunity for the data that local authorities capture, that the business community capture to bring that to the forefront of schools and how they can intertwine that with the careers curriculum that they deliver. One of the ideas that we did was we brought in a number of businesses to support with that careers’ curriculum.

So it's first-hand education and business working together rather than a gulf, which we often see where education. Is teaching X, Y, and Z, and actually the business community needs A, B, and C, and there's a disconnect between both. I think having those conversations between both initiatives, like I mentioned earlier, just make a huge difference in tying all that together.

And ultimately, it's for the benefit of the young people, which is what we, what every audience is trying to achieve.

[00:17:22] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: Thank you so much for sharing that. That is really interesting. Absolutely, it's great to hear about the impact you're making now.

How can interested people reach out to you and learn more? Where can they find you online?

[00:17:34] Matt Richardson: I often post quite a lot on, on LinkedIn. I often think what would I want to see if I was looking to understand a little bit more about social value. So, I'll often put articles that I find useful.

So it's not always necessarily posts that our organisation are doing and, and good stories that we are doing. Yes, that's a part of it, but I'm also keen to share what I've learned in my journey. And if it can help someone through the information that I share, then that's a benefit really.

[00:17:58] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: Thank you, and that brings me to what advice do you have for people looking to start something similar in another part of the world or another part of the UK?

[00:18:08] Matt Richardson: Try and take as many opportunities as possible. From my perspective, the last 10 years has been about grasping as many opportunities I can, regardless of where it went. It might be short lived, but it was opportunities, and it was experience all the same. It might have been to work on a specific project, to volunteer on a specific project.

I want to make very clear to your audience that all the opportunities I've taken up have been a real passion of mine. And I think that's important. That's what can help drive the impact even further. If you are interested in something, it can be very difficult if you're going against the grain and trying to do something that benefits, but there's also that goal if you want to be able to get something out of it as well for your own wellbeing and feel like you're giving something back.

If opportunities aren't necessarily in your periphery, reaching out to organisations. Volunteering opportunities, you'd be hard pressed to find someone who doesn't want to give back to a community.

The challenge is often where to go, where do I go and do that? So I think reaching out to local infrastructure organisations within Manchester, GMCVO, which is the regional based of infrastructure organisation, but each of the 10 local authorities in Greater Manchester all have their own VCSE.

Infrastructure organisation that can help with that. We often see that with the business community, staff want to give back. I would also argue sometimes I think within businesses, in particular in corporate volunteering, and I appreciate it, can potentially get on my soapbox about this, so apologies.

I think there's a case to be had for staff within organisations to really think about the tasks that they do on a day-to-day basis that may seem quite mundane or autopilot. Small community groups, organisations do not have the resources to access those skills and expertise. So do try and match what you do on a day-to-day basis for organisations.

It may seem like, well, who's going to find this useful? But I can assure you there will be organisations out there, whether it's business strategy, putting posters together, a marketing campaign, social media, anything like that, there will be organisations that can help.

So please do think about what you do on a day-to-day basis, because that will provide an extreme amount of value. And please don't underestimate how important that could be.

[00:20:29] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: Thank you. Those are really great tips and absolutely shout out to volunteering. I also find that very useful within the organisations you work with, if they encourage it. Some organisations give you volunteering days which is really great. Or some people have organised volunteering opportunities.

At eBay, we used to get sabbaticals, so I used to take that and go and volunteer in Africa. So, you'd get a month off with leave, with pay every five years, and I would go and volunteer in different parts of the world. Really great.

[00:21:02] Matt Richardson: Fantastic.

[00:21:03] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: An opportunity now for you to talk about anything I haven't asked you about.

Anything else you want to talk about coming up in the next few months in the autumn, especially.

[00:21:12] Matt Richardson: I should also mention that I'm the chair of the Greater Manchester Social Value Network within Greater Manchester. There's a number of events that we've got coming up over the next couple of months.

So do you keep an eye out on LinkedIn and the Greater Manchester Social Value Network website. We also have a number of social value events, particularly around volunteering coming up which can be found on the Business Growth Hub website as well, which we can share the links for sure.

The increase in rates of modern slavery and labour exploitation is unfortunately becoming more apparent across the country. The immigration bill that was passed and the implication that's going to have potentially on people at risk or victims of modern slavery as well.

Rates have increased, but I should also caveat that rates have increased of labour exploitation as a whole in the area. That's also potentially due to raising awareness about it. So, people are more confident around how they raise concerns and where they need to raise concerns. There's something called the National Referral Mechanism. And there's apps such as the Unseen app. There's your local police stations or GMP who run cases.

And if you wanted any information around understanding what exploitation is, there's a Slave Free Alliance, which is a charity under the banner of Hope for Justice, which is based in the city centre of Manchester as well. They do some fantastic work.

It is a real concern to me, not just because of my focus of work developing and supporting young people just across the board. If you are listening and not aware of exploitation or modern slavery, and you think surely that still doesn't exist anymore, please do have a read of it and have a research on it because it is a live issue.

And unfortunately, we are seeing increased cases of it. So try and understand the subject and if you need any support and advice, the organisations that I've mentioned can certainly help with that.

[00:22:57] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: Thank you for highlighting this very important issue.

So I come to my signature questions that I ask all my guests. Can you describe the Mancunian spirit in a word or a phrase?

[00:23:08] Matt Richardson: I could say, mate. Mate is a common term that I hear all the time that I use. It's puts people at ease. I think it shows a level of collaboration, community. It's used by everyone around Manchester. So, mate for me means a lot of different things.

That togetherness, the ability that I found within my career of being able to lean on someone for advice and support in a friendly way, breaking down barriers and understanding things through working with organisations and partners.

And unfortunately, COVID happened and that was awful. But I do think if there were any positives to come from that, it has relaxed people a little bit. A little bit more informal, even more so within Manchester. And I think the business mask slips a little bit and like we are doing now, you see some people's homes.

You get to know people. Amazon are knocking at the door. You've got kids running around you. You see some people's lives and I think that informal nature alongside the spirit that was already in the area is just great for everybody. I would hate to see that disappear.

[00:24:19] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: I love that very much because you're the first person who's used this term to describe the Mancunian spirit. It is so true, and it is, like you said, it's just everything, it's community, it's informality. It's a great way to talk about it.

Can you share a Mancunian who's inspired you and why? And can be somebody from the past or somebody present.

[00:24:42] Matt Richardson: When I first started out in my sports coaching and getting into sport, I had a manager called Danielle and I just could see the way that she interacted with people. I could see the way that the kids just loved being around her and really thrived off her energy. She was imparting knowledge, and she was always thinking about how she can better her services, how she can provide more opportunities for those young people.

I thought, wow, do if I can be anything like that? And I think that's something I've always thought about in my career is I'd like to think everything I do has a positive impact. And if it's not, I'll continue to review that. But how can I make it better? What opportunities can we provide on a day-to-day basis?

And I think Danielle, was my first proper job, if you like. But I think having somebody like that for a passion for young people like I have has just been great impact for me. She gave me the opportunity to work with young people, which I'm forever grateful for.

Still speak to her now. I just think it's fantastic what she did and what she did for me in those early stages as well.

[00:25:48] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: Great. Shout out to Danielle and you must share the podcast with her later.

[00:25:53] Matt Richardson: Yes, absolutely.

[00:25:55] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: What's the most important life lesson you've learned?

[00:25:57] Matt Richardson: I would say common sense is not common.

[00:26:01] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: So true.

[00:26:02] Matt Richardson: If you ask my wife, she'd probably say the same thing about me as well, to be fair. I think we get caught up in, buzzwords that we use, terms that we use, phrases that we use, and there's this perception that everyone's going to know what they are.

And just taking a step back and thinking, how can I simplify this to anyone that I'm speaking to? And likewise, we've all sat in meetings and calls and thought, I don't know what that means but you don't want to ask. You feel a little bit embarrassed. You think, well, I should probably know what that is.

And I think if we just simplified a lot of things, I think it would be far easier. We'd make a lot more progress if we did that as well. So, I found common sense is not common and I think we often try to complicate things when they don't need to be.

So, if we can strip everything back and just be a little bit more simplistic, I think we would all be a lot better off.

[00:26:49] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: Absolutely, I couldn't agree more with what you said because you're so right. We put little boxes on things, and we package things in different ways and we use all these big models and sometimes we don't need to.

[00:27:03] Matt Richardson: Absolutely.

[00:27:04] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: If you could have one superpower, what would it be?

[00:27:08] Matt Richardson: Oh wow. I like the idea of teleporting. I've always liked the idea of exploring. Even more so now, the fact that I've got children, I think exposing them to different things and different places, different cultures. The idea of quickly getting from A to B.

[00:27:27] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: Think teleporting and flying, these are the two very common ones that do come out. It totally makes sense. Sometimes the travel's lovely, but sometimes you're like let's do away with the in-between bits. It's a waste of time.

[00:27:40] Matt Richardson: Absolutely.

[00:27:41] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: Is there a funny story you'd like to share with listeners to end the podcast?

[00:27:46] Matt Richardson: Just when we were talking about young people before and exposure to workplace. I won't mention the organisation, but I'm really into sport. We got matched when we're in school to volunteer in opportunity and work placement.

And I got matched with this sports club and I thought, great, this would be fantastic. So, I got there and sounded really good. At first, they had a press conference for something to do with a football club that was on Sky Sports News. And I thought, wow, this is fantastic.

And then I think three days later, they tried to get me to, I did refuse at the time, but they tried to get me to dress up as the mascot and hand out tickets in Town centre and I thought, surely this can't be what people do on a day-to-day basis.

But it just was a real eye opener for me then thinking I don't know if I want to do this. Don't know if sports for me, thankfully it didn't deter me enough to turn my back on it altogether.

But thankfully, I'd like to think work placements and work experience for young people have come a long way since then. At least, I hope they have. And for any employers out there, please don't do that. For any young people that coming to your organisation, please make it worthwhile.

[00:28:54] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: Absolutely. I think this is really important. It's that first impression. They've got only maybe 30 days to make a good impression so, try and give them meaningful work. Definitely don't give them the mascots and filing and reports that nobody's going to read.

[00:29:11] Matt Richardson: Yeah.

[00:29:12] Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe: Thank you so much, Matt, for talking to me today.

It's been a real pleasure and thank you for explaining what social value is to me and my listeners.

[00:29:19] Matt Richardson: I've really enjoyed it. Thanks so much.

Outro

Matt, thank you for talking to me today. I really enjoyed learning about social value today or doing good for the community.

Dear listener, thank you so much for listening to the second episode of the Meet the Mancunian podcast, Season Six. Tune in every Tuesday for a new episode or log on to www.meetthemancunian.co.uk to listen to all the episodes and learn more about my podcasting story.

Next week on Tuesday, 19 September 2023. I speak to Corin Bell about reducing food wastage, creatively.

Thank you for joining me on this enriching journey through the social impact stories of Manchester with the sixth season of the Meet the Mancunian podcast. I hope the stories you heard today have sparked a fire of inspiration within you. May they serve as a gentle reminder that no dream is too big and no passion too small.

Your feedback means the world to me. Visit www.meetthemancunian.co.uk to share your thoughts, suggestions, and the causes that touched your heart. Your input helps me craft a podcast that truly touches hearts and makes a difference in our community.

Stay connected with the podcast on social media. You can find us at @meetthemancunian on Instagram and Facebook or follow us on Twitter as @MancunianPod. Sharing and leaving a comment would be a fantastic way to spread the word and build a vibrant community of change-makers.

Before I sign off, remember to introduce this podcast to your friends and family. So together we can amplify the impact and reach of these incredible stories. Once again, thank you so much for being a part of the Meet the Mancunian family. Your support fuels my passion. And I can't wait to bring you more compelling stories that will touch your heart and fuel your soul.

Until we meet again in the next episode, let's keep creating waves of change together. Remember the world needs more Mancunian spirit. So go out there and be the change you wish to see.

Take care, stay inspired.