Society backs Bradford's bid for UK city of culture 2025

Bradford 2025 has announced Yorkshire Building Society, one of the most long-established organisations in Bradford, as its latest corporate partner.

Yorkshire Building Society joins as Bid Partner, hot on the heels of Bradford being named as one of eight longlisted places through to the next round of the UK City of Culture 2025 competition.

The partnership is part of the Society’s ongoing commitment to invest in its founding city, where its predecessors established the Bradford Self Help Permanent Building Society in St. George's Hall Coffee Tavern more than 135 years ago. 

John Heaps, Chairman of Yorkshire Building Society, said:

We’re proud to be a Bradford organisation with a strong heritage in the city and with a long history of employment and supporting the financial wellbeing of this community. It can’t be underestimated the impact winning the City of Culture title could have on the district, specifically in driving inward investment, boosting the local economy and opening up incredible opportunities for young people to enhance their skills. We’re really looking forward to working with the team to champion the bid alongside other key partners across the district.

Earlier this year Yorkshire Building Society announced almost a quarter of a million pounds (£240,000) extra investment into the district in 2021 to provide employability and digital skills training and support its home city’s post-Covid recovery. The organisation is also committed to investing in young people in Bradford, which is one of the youngest cities in Europe.

The Society’s longer term ambition is to provide at least 2,000 people in Bradford, including at least 1,000 young people in the city, with employability support via access to training, work experience, mentoring, apprenticeships and some targeted financial support for further education by the end of 2022.

Mick Chandsoor, Head of Partnerships at Bradford 2025, said:

The response we’ve had from the business community over the last 12 months has been overwhelming and I’m sure played a major part in helping secure our place on the City of Culture longlist. Yorkshire Building Society are a fantastic organisation to have on board, and we look forward to working with them and our other partners over the coming months as we put together an inclusive, imaginative and hopefully, winning, bid.

Bradford will submit its final bid alongside other longlisted cities in January 2022.

All information correct at time of publication.

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