This week they announced a month long fundraising campaign which is offering the city’s community the chance to help shape the identity of Manchester, by owning a share in the pioneering space as it is transformed into one of the largest managed concrete skateparks in the UK.
The not-for-profit Co-operative and Community Benefit Society is looking to create a vibrant community space for local young people and their families.
The skatepark’s aspiration over the next year is to expand its current ramp capacity by an additional 700sqm of concrete ramps for all abilities, allowing the team to work with up to 10,000 more under serviced young people each year.
In order to facilitate this expansion, the skatepark hopes to raise up to £200,000 through a Community Share Offer.
This crowdfunding will offer the community the opportunity to own a share of the organisation, in return for vital funding which will facilitate the growth of the skatepark and enable it to offer even more educational, health, well-being and work programmes for hard to reach members of the community.
As well as the benefits to Projekts MCR, the donation will also have clear benefits to the investor. As well as the potential to own a piece of Manchester’s most unique spaces, investors will also be eligible for Social Investment Tax Relief (SITR).
Projekts MCR is run by people living locally, looking to have the maximum positive impact on communities surrounding the skatepark.
The area is one of the most deprived in England, with eight council wards that fall within the 10% most deprived in the country within a two mile radius of the park.
For the last five years, Projekts MCR has seen skatepark attendance from people living in those areas shoot up with the creation of female only classes, adults’ classes and reaching over 3,000 children a year through skateboard coaching classes.
Currently, the skatepark sees over 18,000 visits a year and delivers over 20 coaching sessions a week to school and youth related groups in Greater Manchester.
The expansion will also increase the capacity for group and individual skateboarding lessons, birthday parties and private hire as well as allowing hire of the site by other community organisations and for expansion of our youth work and educational programmes.
The Community Share Offer (CSO) Crowdfunding campaign will open on 15th October and close on 15th November.
