Year Here is a platform for young professionals who want to build smart solutions to entrenched social problems. Over one year our Fellows learn from, and design with, people at the frontline of inequality – in care homes, homeless hostels and youth services across London – and go on to found some of the most promising social impact startups in the country.

Unlike a traditional Master's degree, Year Here is immersive, action-oriented and grounded in the daily experiences of those whom the project affects the most.

Since launching at 10 Downing Street in 2013, we’ve worked with 113 aspiring social entrepreneurs and launched award-winning social ventures like Fat Macy’s, Chatterbox and The Hard Yard.

We’re a deeply committed team of five, surrounded by a faculty of 70 social innovation experts – the great and the good of Britain’s social impact world. Our Faculty includes social entrepreneurs, policy makers and innovation experts – from prison philanthropist Lady Edwina Grosvenor to multi-award-winning social designer Lauren Currie OBE and the poet Lemn Sissay.

Our alumni have founded 18 social ventures including Settle, supporting vulnerable young people who are moving into their first home, and Birdsong, an fashion brand selling clothes made by vulnerable women and ploughing its profits back into the women's charities who support them.

All our ventures are businesses with a social purpose, attacking thorny social issues from different angles. They’ve collectively generated £750,000 revenue and reached over 2000 beneficiaries – from gang members and homeless teens to isolated older people and refugee women.

There are no course fees - Year Here is free. Although the course is intensive, the majority of Fellows do freelance or part-time work in their evenings, weekends and holidays – as graphic designers, tutors or journalists, for example. We will also support your living costs with access to bursaries, crowdfunding, student loads and more.

96% of our Fellows are in paid employment within three months of graduating from Year Here. A year after graduating, 32% run their own social venture, 48% work for another social enterprise or charity, and the remainder work in government, innovation, frontline or private sector roles.