New Era was founded in 1986 to support the unemployed by encouraging enterprise. We supported the set up of the Unemployed Centre in Burnley, later to become the ‘Burnley Advice Centre’. The volunteers became the founding directors.

Our not-for-profit organisation operates on a cooperative model to meet community needs. Open and accessible to all, New Era serves as a safety net, proudly collaborating with statutory provisions in social care, employment, and education to address gaps that these organisations could not fill.

In 1988 we employed our first member of staff to work on the Community Business Development Project to encourage community enterprise. This supported, amongst other things:

• The set up of the Credit Union support service
• Freshfields, a horticulture project supporting people with learning disabilities
• Red Triangle Café

Jumping forward to 1995 we partnered with Burnley Employment and Training Charter to launch the Welfare to Work project.

In 1999 New Era diversified and, through the Childcare Consortium objective. ERDF and SRB funding founded New Era Childcare Agency with support for creche and childminding services.

New Era became an Accredited Training provider. We delivered our first accredited training around childcare, numeracy, literacy  and opened our Ofsted registered nursery.

Our support continued to grow The lottery funded The New Beginnings Project  to support the homeless and vulnerable.

In 2013 our training arm was developed with a range of first aid qualifications originally supporting the childcare sector now a centre of excellence across the region

The Step Towards project was the birth of our Health and Wellbeing support, raising self-esteem, confidence and improving the physical and mental health without medical intervention.

We secured National Lottery funding for our Blossom Tree Project, supporting over 900 families with children. This initiative focuses on providing practical, non-judgmental support while fostering connections between families and schools.

We were proud to participate in the Building Better Opportunities (BBO) programme in Lancashire, offering tailored employability and skills support. Funded by the European Social Fund and The National Lottery Community Fund, this initiative addressed poverty and social exclusion, helping individuals overcome barriers to work and training through social enterprises and community organisations.

Our family work develops as the team upskilled to provide essential mental health support to children and young people in schools and homes

Continued support from Gannow Big Local providing a weekly toddler group

During the pandemic New Era, supported by National Lottery and Lancashire Covid Funding, worked tirelessly to support families in lockdown by supplying food, toys and resources and providing advice and guidance and a listening ear when needed. Our zoom coffee afternoon events were hugely popular helping people stay connected and we held pop up events in local parks to meet up with and support families.

Children In Need funded our ‘Chitter Chatter’ Group supported families with early years children by developing speech, language and communication.

The team settled into their new home, The Annexe, excited about the new opportunities and with a clear focus for supporting Mental Health and Wellbeing, Families and Communities, Training and Education and Employment and Skills.

New Era has been awarded funding for the Annexe Project through the National Lottery Community Fund to support our work providing emotional health and wellbeing support to children, young people, and their families across Burnley and the surrounding areas.