Community Gateway wins Celebrating Excellence Award for Engagement

The Community Gateway project has won the Cardiff University Celebrating Excellence Award for Outstanding Contribution to Engagement. The winners of this year's Celebrating Excellence Awards were announced at a dinner and presentation in the Great Hall in the Students Union on 9 November.

The Celebrating Excellence Awards reward individual, team and collaborative achievements through a range of award categories, and recognise the contributions made by staff working in every area of the University's activities.

The Outstanding Contribution to Engagement Award was given to Community Gateway for the project's development of a community-based platform for engagement within the communities of Grangetown. The award is recognition of the team's commitment to improving the lives of the people of Grangetown through engaged teaching, research and innovation.

This year 195 nominations were received across 15 categories of awards and the Community Gateway team are thrilled to have been nominated and won the award. Mhairi McVicar, Community Gateway Project Lead said:

"We are delighted to have been nominated and received this award. We really appreciate the university's recognition of all the hard work by not only the Community Gateway team but partners and the residents of Grangetown. Thank you also to those colleagues that nominated us - it is hugely appreciated!"

Lynnette Thomas, Head of Engagement said:

"I am so delighted for the Community Gateway team, the award is so deserved on so many parts and I am so happy that the university has acknowledged all the hard work that has gone into making this project such a huge success"

Over the past three years Community Gateway has launched 44 community-university projects, brokering connections between Cardiff University staff, students and Grangetown residents to help bring community-led ideas to life.

Projects have included the award-winning Grangetown Youth Forum, a regular Grangetown Business Forum which led to the launch of Grangetown's first World Street Market, a Run Grangetown running group, an annual mental health day, arts therapy programmes, a Citizen Scientists programme, Grangetown Safety Week, and the renovation of a vacant Bowls Pavilion including the launch of the locally-run Hideout Café with regular philosophy café sessions.

If you would like to find out more about the project or want to get involved then please get in touch: communitygateway@cardiff.ac.uk