A Manchester council worker whose job as a community safety champion was axed in the cuts has spent his redundancy money setting up a charity to keep kids out of trouble.
Nick Buckley was so passionate about his job as a community safety coordinator that when it fell victim to the cuts he gave up the offer of an alternative post with a £35,000 salary and took voluntary redundancy.
He then invested his payout straight into a new charity aimed at steering teenagers away from a life of crime. Nick has set up ‘Mancunian Way’ which will focus on early intervention to stop troubled youths from turning to offending. He is now looking for more funding to help it flourish.
Nick, 43, who grew up on the Anson estate in Longsight and now lives in Castlefield, said: “I came from the same streets as some of these young people. I grew up on an estate known for gun crime and drugs and my mum still lives there. Without a bit of luck, I could easily have gone down the wrong path.
"So, I can relate to the kids who’ve got in trouble because they’re bored, and to the families who still live in the midst of that.
“It’s about breaking the cycle. If you can speak to a child when they’re 10, 11 or 12, it’s cheaper, quicker and easier than waiting till they’re 19 or 20 and entrenched in a life of crime.”
Nick started his council career as a youth intervention officer working in east Manchester. He says that of 1,200 young people he worked with, he knows of only one who went on to get an Asbo. He then became a community safety coordinator until his role at Manchester council was axed due to cuts earlier this year.
He is now looking to housing associations, local authorities, police and the government to help him fund his venture.
He said: “The charity is called Mancunian Way because Mancunians already have the answers to the issues they face, we just need to encourage them to be part of the solution.
“It aims to reduce antisocial behaviour by using early intervention and prevention, which means we deal with issues before they escalate by ‘nipping things in the bud’. We aim to fill the gaps in service due to the austerity measures in place.”
For more details visit www.mancunianway.org.uk
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In these straightened financial times that we all now live, how amazing to hear the story of Nick Buckley.
As the credit crunch continues to bite, there will be many who share in Nick's plight of facing redundancy from a town hall job.
But how many of us would sacrifice our job, giving up our salary, to be able to use a redundancy payout to invest in setting up a charity?
The 43-year-old has done exactly that, in ploughing the money from taking voluntary redundnacy from his job as a community support officer, and the opportunity of another salaried position at the council, to instead set up a charity aimed at steering teenagers away from the crime.
The charity, called Mancunian Way, will focus on early intervention to strop troubled youths from turning to offending.
Mr Buckley, who grew up in Longsight, has seen first hand how vital such a charity can be in stopping youngsters from so easily going down the wrong path in life.
He is now hoping to secure funding from housing associations, local authorities and the police to fund his venture.
As Mr Buckley says in establishing the venture: “Mancunians already have the answers to the issues they face, we just need to encourage them to be part of the solution.”
If the notion of David Cameron's “Big Society” is to be given some kind of legitimacy, then surely it is by supporting the work of people like Nick Buckley.
And while the Prime Minister may have struggled to express what the Big Society is all about to the masses, Mr Buckley is quite the living embodiment of that altruism.
In putting others before himself for the greater good of the community as a whole, we salute him and would urge everyone to get behind his efforts.
While money remains tight for so many organisations across our region, we can only hope that he wins the funding for the cause which he so justly deserves.
Whilst the choice of Mr Buckley is very worthwhile, it makes you think how much money the council actually needs to lose if they make him redundant from his old position and then offers him one with a salary of £35,000. That is double what many, many Mancunians are earning so how can the Council still offer this amount when making people redundant. Maybe it's because they are ensuring that those at the top end of the salary ladder are keeping jobs with high wages(although maybe lower then their current jobs).
A credit to the community who has quite literally put his money where his mouth his. Well done mate.
This is a great initiative, but on the 'Big Society' front, I can see why people get confused.
For years, conservatives, especially in the USA have got cross about what they call 'Big Government', with its high taxation etc.
So Dave's come up with 'Big Society' to counter it - the problem is, how does he get involved in his 'Big Society'. He can't really as the whole idea is that government takes a step back and leaves it to volunteers.
So at the end of the day, all Dave has done is re-branded volunteering and charity as 'Big Society', politicising it in the process, and provided it with a huge kick start by cutting services.
It's amazing where a background in PR can get you.
No comment on what the bloke is doing but what exacxtly is/was a 'community safety coordinator' ?
How many of these types of roles have we been paying for.
This country badly needs good role models cos a lot of kids won't find it in their own parents!
Good in the short term, but in the long term this is bad news – and starts a dangerous precedent. We can’t expect people who are often doing the most valuable jobs in society to work for free, and the funding being given on a goodwill basis. Why is there an assumption that jobs like bankers deserve to be paid large sums of money, but jobs that involve, often caring or supporting the most vulnerable in society to be done by volunteers , and funded by charity. Seems morally wrong.
What a wonderful caring man and i wish him all the best
Wait a minute. Some people are missing here.....who could it be.....ohhhh, I know, its The Usual Suspects, as I laughingly refer to them. The usual suspects are that gang of readers who are usually first to lambaste people like Mr Buckley for being 'do gooders' the 'yuman rights brigade' and 'lefties' whenever people like this chap are quoted for trying to.....well.....do good, basically.
Never mind, they will no doubt be along soon to praise the guy because they are so confused about what they actually mean when they type, say or think anything at all. Either that or they will find some reason to have a go at him by shrouding their opinions in something they think is political and expedient - something like: I respect what the guy is doing, but why doesn't he spend his money on setting up a charity for the VICTIMS of crime, I would donate to that, I would!!!
Excpet, of course, we all know they wouldn't. Anyway, watch out the for The Usual Suspects. They must be all out collecting their pensions right now and catching up on the days events in the Daily Mail. Lets see if I am wrong.
Footballers take note...
Two questions on this lordable project...
Lots of people made redundant from the council are now setting up consultantcies and stuff like this. Wont the real impact be to spread a small amount of cash from people giving money even thinner? There are loads of charitys working with kids and teenagers, they cant all get funding even now.
And, lots of mentions of this being a charity. But there's no charity number on the websight. Cant find it on the charity commision sight. Sure its just waiting for aproval, but theres a lot of people around claming to run charitys who arent
Why doesn't he spend his money on setting up a charity for the VICTIMS of crime?
Why shouldn’t I object to the large wages of those employed by the councils up and down the country who see fit to give salaries of over £35,000 for why I would call ‘non jobs’. It is just a way to give cushy jobs to Labour/Liberal voters and if anyone objects we are called right wingers. All I want to know is why the liberal,union loving left leaning voters seem to think that you can’t live on around £14,000(my wage after a 50 hour week) in Manchester. I live comfortably thank you very much, I pay my rent, council tax, furnish my home with new furniture etc. What I don’t do is spent vast amounts on a 7 day a week alcohol lifestyle, electronic gadgets worth hundreds, nice expensive car, designer clothes etc. I live within my means and can even afford a couple of weeks holiday each year. I also managed to live in London when I was earning £16,225 a year, how you ask. Well I budgeted well and still put away money in my bank account.
The problem is that those who are in Unions(including bosses paid over 100k a year) demand that each and every worker in to public sector to be paid a wage of no less than £30k, this they claim is a ‘living wage’. What a joke, maybe if you managed your money better than you would life comfortably in Manchester on less than 15k a year.
It’s strange that you never see a poor socialist do you? They always complain they can’t afford to live yet they find the money to pay to travel the country for marches etc. If you were actually practicing socialism you would forgo your nice wage of £20k plus a year as I thought you viewed money as the root of all evil, that is unless it is the socialists who earn nice amounts of money.
Also if wages are so low how come the people ‘stealing our jobs’ the mainly Eastern Europeans manage to live n the same wage in the same inner city flats/terraced housing as the native Brit who won’t work due to their excuse what’s the point when I get all my money from the state. I just wish those native Brits with this attitude had the get up and go that our hard working friends from Eastern Europe have. I have many Polish friends who live in inner city Manchester in the same street where whole families of Brits don’t work and not only do these Poles pay the same rent and shop at the same shops these lazy Brits shop at they also manage to send money back home to Poland. So it is not a fact that wages are to low it is because many Brits are just too lazy to do a days hard work whilst their Polish neighburs are up at 6am starting a days work.
Even living on benefits in this country is preferable to living on benefits overseas. And yes I have lived on benefits and it was a struggle but I still had a roof over my head and had to walk places rather than getting a bus etc. My dislike is those who keep harping on that they can't live on fantastic money. There are dozens of people living on the streets who would love to earn the money you say you can't live on with 3 kids.
Simple solution budget properly, even if that means you have to shop at certain cheaper priced stores(but socialists don't want to do that do you. no all you want to do is complain about how hard done by you supposedly are.
I might be of the ‘older’ generation as you put it but your message but the why it was written suggests you hold the older generation with contempt and no respect. This is typical of the ‘younger’ generation today who lack the respect they themselves so crave. It also shows that no matter what you say you as a socialist are more jealous and hungry for money than any rich Tory. As for the point you are complaining about in earning your company a large contract but not getting anything for it, you must have known that when you applied for the job and afterwards when you got the job. If you didn’t like it and thought of yourself as just being a little cog in the evil capitalist workplace why didn’t you leave and find a more worth while job? I did such a thing as I got fed up of working in an office and call centre and found a job cleaning the streets of Greater Manchester for a private company on a lesser wage than similar council role but do you know what, I absolutely love my job being outdoors in all weathers have more than enough money to live comfortable on and give money to charity etc and couldn’t wish for a better life. Maybe if you socialists actually got on with life, budgeted correctly, didn’t have kids when you couldn’t afford them you might actually find that life in the UK is wonderful for all its many faults through whatever government or banking crisis.
Even with the rises in the cost of living I can still feed myself and family very well with fresh veg everyday, meat from a butchers not a supermarket three times a week and once a month treat the family to a night at a nice restaurant in the city centre. Life is so good and my Polish friends and I will get on with enjoying life whilst you socialists keep complaining about money and how hard done by you all seems to be. If your life is so bad go down to the streets of Manchester city centre and swop your nice lifestyle for those less fortunate than you who will be sleeping rough in a shop doorway.