2022 was an eventful year for Co-relate and we want to take an opportunity to reflect on, and celebrate, what's we achieved in 2022 with our thanks to all of you. Here are 7 things we're proud of and a big thanks from us.

1. Getting Plastic Free Thanet off the ground

From announcing a plan to push for Thanet to become a Plastic Free Community back in July to working with Rise Up Clean Up and Green Opera on our first beach clean at the end of the month and bringing together Thanet Labour, Thanet Greens and eventually the whole of Thanet District Council in support of the initiative earlier this month, Plastic Free Thanet has really taken off. We've joined up existing and new efforts across Margate, Ramsgate, Broadstairs and Minster and helped to bring more visibility to other environmental projects through our social media and newsletter. We're thrilled to have secured funding from Sea-Changers for our business engagement plans in 2023 and want to say a huge thank you to everyone who's joined this journey so far. Sign up to our newsletter to stay in touch with our latest news and environmental action across Thanet.

2. Becoming a Living Wage Foundation accredited employer

As the cost-of-living crisis hits individuals and households across the country, we're proud to be a Living Wage employer. We may be small, but we're determined to make sure anyone who works for us or is part of our supply chain is being paid enough to get by. Read Justin's blog about why this is so important.

3. Working with the Health Foundation's Q community to share improvement stories

2022 was our second year providing editorial support to the Health Foundation's quality improvement initiative, the Q Community, and we absolutely love the opportunity to lift up improvement work from incredible health and care professionals around the country. Whether it's supporting quality improvement leads like Sophia Mody to share their important work, helping the NHS understand how to bring sustainability and improvement together or highlighting the role of patient experience in healthcare improvement, we're delighted to have expanded the reach and impact of Q's work.

4. Seeing the impact of the Margate Bookie Young Producers programme

We worked incredibly hard with Margate Bookie and their young producers to provide a valuable experience organising youth-focused literary events in Margate during 2021. So it was great to be able to bring together the learning and achievements of that project into an evaluation report compiled with the young producers and designed by one of the young producers in early 2022. Read more about our impact and learning.

5. Communicating the success of Ageless Thanet

Over seven years, Social Enterprise Kent led the Ageless Thanet project improving lives for over 50s across the isle. We were thrilled to be asked to support with communicating the project's impact and ensuring its legacy in the final months. For details, see our Social Enterprise Kent client page.

6. Growing our brilliant team

As we've taken on new projects and won funding we've been able to put our money back into providing more work for local creative freelancers. We're proud to support creatives from Thanet and Kent with properly paid work that also adds to their portfolios and gives back to the community. We think that's what being a social enterprise is all about. See who's on the team and get in touch if you'd like to work with us in 2023. 

7. Being part of the social enterprise movement

After registering as a Community Interest Company in 2021 we became members of Social Enterprise UK in 2022, joining a powerful movement of organisations that are working for people and planet. Read about some of the social enterprises we admire, why you should buy social and find out more about Social Enterprise Kent's new Buy Social Directory to help you with that in our Why social enterprise blog. If you'd like our help communicating with your audiences in 2023 we'd love to hear from you. Email jess@co-relate.co.uk

Thank you for your support and we look forward to seeing what we can achieve together in 2023.