Communities in Greater Manchester need our help!!!

Aim

We aim to extend reach of services that help people in GM, suffering from the cost-of-living-crisis, to take control of their lives.

Our aim

To fund the conversion of a electric mobile unit to travel around the Greater Manchester area, engaging directly with communities on their door step. We need to support our vulnerable residents at a time of great financial hardship to better manage their finances and find new opportunities to develop their careers, aspirations and dreams.

Who we are 

Upturn Enterprise is based in Oldham and has been helping people from local disadvantaged communities for twenty years. We are a not-for-profit social enterprise and change peoples’ lives for the better.

The founders

Upturn was co-founded in 2004 by Anwar Ali and Maria Williams, as a social enterprise with the ambition to connect People, Communities, and Enterprise to uplift the citizens of Greater Manchester and fulfil their talents, specialising in areas of multiple deprivation and poverty. Here they are pictured below with Muzahid Khan the Deputy Left Lieutenant of Greater Manchester and one of the life coaches at Upturn.

"We do this by unlocking potential, supporting business, enabling social mobility".

What we're doing to tackle this urgent cost of living crisis

We help people to tackle financial issues, in a non-judgemental, personalised way and we do this by:

1) Unlocking People’s talents and aspirations

We meet extraordinary people all the time and we know that the right kind of help unleashes amazing talents and commitment. 

2) Enabling Communities to prosper

We believe that creating safe spaces in which communities can come together to share their views, opinions and ideas, pays dividends.

3) Cultivating ideas and endeavour to grow

We have the resources in place to support and guide people with new ideas through all key stages from idea, starting up, growing to prospering.

Why is this so important?

Our work has become very important in the current cost-of-living-crisis, and we need to reach more people, many of whom are struggling financially and simply cannot now afford even the bus fare to come and see us.

Independent article - 2016

An exciting next step - this is how we can reach more people

To reach more people, we have purchased an iconic new campervan (a VW ID Buzz), with the help of The Clothworkers Foundation. The Buzz is environmentally friendly and will run on electricity.

Our aim is to drive into the heart of disadvantaged communities, using the Buzz as a base to deliver our mobile financial support services.

Your help

Please help us with the exciting new part to our project. 

We need to fit out the Buzz as a comfortable, safe, and welcoming mobile office. Work has already started on this.

This is specialised work, and we will be providing regular updates on how it is going from the fitters in Wales. Our target for donations is £25,000 against the fitters costs of £35,000, and we have already raised the difference ourselves. 

You will be helping us to help people tackle their debt, plan for the future, and achieve better things – many people are capable of this, with our support.

We know this, as we have helped over 8,000 local people to improve their life chances in the past. The following is typical of the feedback that we receive from local people Upturn helps:  “I now feel so much more confident within myself and am ready to start my journey. I know that Upturn will continue to support me, and I would encourage anyone else to contact Upturn as they have changed my life around.”

This project successfully funded on 28th May 2024