Social Spider CIC has been named a finalist in the UK Social Enterprise Awards, recognising businesses that are changing the world.
Social Spider CIC has been shortlisted in the UK Social Enterprise Awards, recognising it as one of the leading social enterprises in the country.
Social Spider CIC, based in Walthamstow, London, is a finalist in the Transformative Community Business category. It publishes three monthly community newspapers; Waltham Forest Echo, Tottenham Community Press, and Enfield Dispatch. Each newspaper is written by and for local people, celebrating local successes, covering local news and holding those in power to account. In the last year, it has launched its third newspaper, Enfield Dispatch, and celebrated the 50th issue of the Waltham Forest Echo.
Each paper features over ten community contributors per issue who work with our editors to tell their stories and write about the issues affecting them.
Social enterprises are businesses that trade for a social or environmental purpose. There are 100,000 social enterprises in the UK contributing £60bn to the UK economy, each one being set up to tackle some of the biggest challenges we face from homelessness to climate change.
The UK Social Enterprise Awards run by Social Enterprise UK, the national membership body for social enterprises, recognise the nation’s most pioneering social enterprises. Social Spider CIC will be joining other shortlisted organisations at the prestigious awards ceremony held at London’s iconic Guildhall on 4 December.
Previous winners have included a coffee company set up to create jobs for people who are homeless, an employee-owned community health care provider and a company set up to tackle funeral poverty.
Commenting on being shortlisted Anna Merryfield, Community News Director at Social Spider CIC, stated:
“Being recognised for the achievements of our newspapers is a fantastic feeling and a great opportunity to acknowledge the hard work of our small team. The decline of local news is a threat to the cohesion of our communities and to the functioning of our democracy.
By engaging local people in the production of our newspapers, we can provide a platform to amplify the things that matter to them and disseminate information. It’s important that all communities have access to a trusted source from which to gather information about the place they live.”
Commenting on the Awards, Chief Executive of Social Enterprise UK Peter Holbrook said:
“Every year the standards of applications for the UK Social Enterprise Awards get higher and higher. At a time when public confidence in business is at a low and when we are facing crises both political and environmental – this year’s shortlist shows how business can be used to build a better world.”
Read more about the work of Social Spider here: https://medium.com/@startspreadingnews
The Waltham Forest Echo, the Tottenham Community Press and the Enfield Dispatch are all members of the Independent Community News Network (ICNN) – the UK’s only trade body for independent community news outlets.
If you run a hyperlocal/indie newspaper or news site, get in touch with Matt Abbott on [email protected] to find out if you can join ICNN.
Or you can take a look at our criteria for membership here.
