Newry, Mourne and Down District Council Celebrate Social Enterprise

Over 50 social entrepreneurs representing various industries and sectors from across Newry Mourne and Down district gathered at Finnegan & Son in Newry for an event to celebrate the success of social enterprise in the region. Guests included participants from the Council funded Social Enterprise Newry, Mourne Down (SENMD) programme.

Social Enterprise Newry Mourne Down (SENMD) is an innovative programme of support helping individuals and groups explore new social enterprise ideas to help them find sustainable innovative solutions to social problems. This innovative programme has also levered an additional £721,000 of financial support to new social enterprises. But most importantly, over 1,500 social enterprises are receiving a service from this initiative where no support previously existed.

The SENMD programme delivered over 1000 hours of mentoring support to individuals from over 50 organisations across the district. Other key outputs from the programme include the creation of 11 new social enterprise companies which were set up this year creating 15 new jobs and 60 new volunteering opportunities.

SENMD is a Newry Mourne and Down District Council programme delivered jointly by Newry and Mourne Enterprise Agency and Down Business Centre. The programme provides a flexible and tailored menu of support to individual social entrepreneurs and community groups that wish to explore social enterprise as a sustainable model for meeting a social need.

Newry, Mourne and Down District Council Chairman, Councillor Mark Murnin said: “Social Enterprises make an important and unique contribution to the local economy of the Newry, Mourne and Down District Council area. They have created jobs for people who would otherwise be left out; provided vital services for people who might not get them otherwise and reinvested their surpluses back into community projects and environmental protection. There are well over 100 organisations in the Newry, Mourne and Down District Council area involved at some level in social enterprise activity.”

Participants on the SENMD programme include those working in tourism, social farming, horticulture, craft, education and training, retail, workspace provision, healthcare, childcare, catering, day-care, health and wellbeing, sport, counselling, media production, alternative therapies, yoga and meditation.