Eighteen leaders from across the Liverpool City Region have been selected to join the new social and solidarity economy reference panel in a bid to boost the £2.9bn sector.
The new panel will advise Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram and combined authority policymakers on how to maximise their contribution to the city region's social sector as it recovers from the Covid-19 pandemic.
The sector supports 50,000 jobs locally and generates £2.9bn income a year for the economy.
But up until now, the authority said its contribution to the city region has often been overshadowed by a focus on commercial.
Boosting the community and social sector has been identified as a key part of the city region’s economic recovery plan, and the panel will provide a vital voice for the sector moving forward, it added.
Members of the new panel range from top councillors to anti-racism campaigners - to those with an interest in arts and education.
Here is the full panel, for which two more members are still to be confirmed:
Name |
Borough |
Interests |
Kate Groucutt |
St Helens |
Deputy Portfolio Holder and Chair |
Saba Ahmed |
Liverpool |
Multicultural community |
Brian Dawe |
Sefton |
Community business / Housing |
Claire Donovan |
Liverpool |
Social Enterprise / Anti Poverty |
Tom Douglas |
Liverpool/Sefton |
Sports and Health |
Keelan Early |
Wirral |
CVS Infrastructure |
Maxine Ennis |
Liverpool |
Charity / social enterprise |
Helen Heap |
All |
Social Investment / Kindred |
Debra Hill |
St Helens |
Community Business / employment |
Racheal Jones |
Knowsley |
CVS Infrastructure |
Paul Khan |
Liverpool |
Arts / Education |
Sara Lawton |
All |
Pro Social Business |
Mike Morris |
All |
Community Arts |
Ben Osu |
All |
Anti racism |
Garrick Praygogg |
Wirral |
Multicultural Community |
Lisa Smalley |
Wirral |
Employment and skills |
Alan Southern |
Sefton |
Academic |
Jane Young |
Knowsley |
Education / disability |
The establishment of the panel follows last month’s commitment of £6.5m of combined authority funding to establish Kindred, a social investment vehicle supporting growth of the social economy in the region.
The sector has also seen nearly £2m distributed to community organisations since the start of the pandemic, through the LCR Cares Fund.
Mayor Rotheram said: “I do not want our third sector to feel overlooked or ignored. It is the reason I have been working closely with them to support our communities through the past few months and to help draw up my plans for our region’s recovery in the post-pandemic world.
“I’m launching this panel to ensure that the social and solidarity economy will always have a strong voice and input that should help see the sector flourish and grow in the years ahead.”
Saba Ahmed, community development worker for Kuumba Imani Millennium Centre in Liverpool, said: “This new panel represents the beginning of a new era in which our sector’s voice is heard alongside other sectors of the economy and which will enable us to come together to fully realise the contribution our sector can make to economic recovery for all our communities.”
Ben Osu, who is strategy lead at the Anthony Walker Foundation, added: “The establishment of the panel marks a major step forward in our voice being heard and in making an even greater contribution to the future of our city region.”
