A year to test and build solutions to some of society's toughest problems.
Applications are currently closed and will reopen again in September 2019 for our 2020 programme.
Build something that matters
Year Here is an immersive, action-oriented course in social innovation, grounded in the daily experience of those at the frontline of inequality – your journey starts in homeless hostels, care homes or pupil referral units across London.
Fellows join us with an average of 5 years’ career experience, bringing with them a broad range of specialist skills and experience, ranging from biochemistry to psychology, journalism to engineering. What unites them is their brilliant personal qualities – resourcefulness, humility and resilience – and their passion for social action.
Our impact
Collectively our Fellows have contributed 110,000 hours to frontline services and have launched 26 ventures including:
- Settle – supporting vulnerable young people who are moving into their first home
- Chatterbox – a language tuition service staffed by refugees
- Birdsong – a fashion brand selling clothes handcrafted by women’s groups – from elderly knitters to migrant seamstresses – with a ‘no sweatshops, no photoshop’ ethos
These 26 ventures have reached over 4,000 service users, generated more than £2m in revenue and received national coverage in The Guardian, Huffington Post, Independent, Financial Times, Vice and BBC News.
Our alumni have been awarded the Centre for Social Justice Social Enterprise of The Year award, 4x Shackleton awards and 4x Forbes 30 Under 30 listings.
The year ahead
Over 10 months you’ll focus on a complex social issue: the housing crisis; educational inequality; community resilience; vulnerable youth; health and wellness.
Supported by a network including The Cabinet Office, Bain & Company, Nesta and Forward3D – if selected, you will:
- Serve at the frontline. You will spend the first 5 months helping to deliver crucial services, working directly with people hit hardest by inequality and gaining insights that are essential to design measures for change.
- Test and build ventures. You’ll test and build your own social enterprise, with the potential to progress to our Incubator and launch it to the world. A third of our alumni pursue the social business they create during the programme.
- Learn from expert faculty. You’ll be assigned a personal mentor and receive extensive training from a faculty of more than 80 leaders across the social innovation field, including specialists in entrepreneurship, government policy, community development and service design.
- Design solutions. Fellows learn to apply the tools of innovation used by tech startups and design agencies, to social problems. You’ll build your own projects from the get-go, starting with an innovation to further your frontline placement’s impact.
- Find your people. The Year Here community will become your support network, collaborators and co-founders. This is a unique opportunity to join a growing movement of entrepreneurs and activists.
Who we are
Year Here was launched in 2013 at 10 Downing St. Since then we have worked with 166 Fellows across ten programmes and been named one of Britain’s 50 New Radicals by Nesta and The Observer.
Our Faculty includes social entrepreneurs, policy makers and innovation experts – from Sophie Howarth, co-founder of School of Life, to award-winning social designer Lauren Currie OBE and Nishant Lalwani, Director of Investments at Omidyar Network.
There are no course fees
Unlike a traditional Master’s degree, we have no tuition fee. Our financial support package includes access to loans, bursaries and TfL discounts, plus recommendations for flexible paid work and affordable accommodation.
