50 New Radicals for 2018: how you can make a difference

Every two years, the Observer and charity Nesta give awards to 50 social innovators. Here we launch the third competition – and catch up with past winners

• Submit your nomination for New Radicals 2018 here
• Read about previous New Radicals winners

When the Observer first joined forces with the innovation foundation Nesta to single out and celebrate 50 organisations “doing radical, useful things, below the radar of the media”, the UK was a very different place from the country it is today.

It was 2012, and the coalition government’s programme of austerity was only just under way. Now, six years on, and local authorities across the country are bursting their budgets. Homelessness rose for the seventh consecutive year in 2017, up 15% on the year before. Britain is preparing to leave the EU, throwing us into the economic unknown. Yet while services are cut, awareness and understanding of issues around mental ill health, gender and sexuality continue to evolve.

Birmingham had all these creative young people but no channel to help them do something positive

Related: 2016 New Radicals: the story behind this year’s winners

Continue reading... March 18, 2018 at 01:30PM