Social has been appointed by social value company Spectra to help promote the impact of its work to tackle social inequality and support under-represented young people and under-served communities.
The integrated agency has a diverse client roster including housing associations, local authorities, charities and professional services firms and is headquartered in Manchester with offices in Leeds and Bristol.
Driving social value, Spectra works with businesses, philanthropists, local authorities governments and the government to plan and deliver social value through strategy development, agile recruitment, training and mentoring, navigating the funding landscape and the delivery of commercial ventures underpinned by social value.
As part of their brief, Social will also be amplifying the profile of the Care Leaver Covenant and its work to support care leavers throughout the UK, which Spectra is the national delivery partner.
The Care Leaver Covenant, funded by the Department of Education, was set up in 2016 as part of the government’s ‘Keep on Caring’ strategy. The Covenant tackles the disadvantages that young people aged 16-25 face when leaving care and helps them to live independently.
Working with a range of organisations in the private, public and voluntary sectors, who sign up to the Covenant, tangible opportunities for care leavers are created, including employment, education and training, safety and security, health, financial independence and independent living.
The appointment reflects Social’s desire to work with organisations that are improving people’s lives and having a positive impact on society, while profiling Spectra and celebrating the impact of Covenant’s activities to support the care leaver community.
Matthew Gordon, Chief Executive of Spectra, said: “Our work in diversity and inclusion, exemplified by the Covenant, is built on strong relationships and storytelling, and our appointment of Social represents those values entirely.
“From our early interactions we saw that they were an agency who shared our ambition to enhance outcomes for disadvantaged young people, and they were a group of people we wanted to work with, spend time with and build stories with. We’re excited for a future of close collaboration with John and the team.”
John Quinton-Barber, Group Chief Executive at Social, said: “Our work is driven by a passion of changing and improving lives and as soon we met Matthew and the Spectra team we wanted to work alongside them to help improve the opportunities available to care leavers and other vulnerable young people in society.
“Currently there are around 70,000 young people in care in the UK, with up to 10,000 leaving care each year. We look forward to working with the Spectra to champion its work with businesses, local authorities and partner organisations who are providing opportunities for care leavers and other under-represented groups of young people.”
Founded in 2012, Social has built a national client roster spanning housing, not for profit, planning, professional and financial services, energy, education, transport and infrastructure.
