Advertisement
Christmas Special - Get your first 12 issues for just £12
SUBSCRIBE
In association with Citroën

Introducing the Big Issue Changemakers of 2023

Our changemakers come from all walks of life, from those quietly helping others to the ones loudly agitating to improve our world. They have all earned their place on our list for 2023

Changemakers cover
Association from Citroën

Every year we celebrate the changemakers who are making things better. This sounds like an obvious thing to do. It is. But it does not always happen. In this time of untethering, when certainties are ever more loosened, the acknowledgement is even more vital.

We explain The Big Issue 100 Changemakers like this:  it’s a celebration of the people and organisations who have focused, not on themselves, but on making things better for all of us. Selfless, frequently unheralded, though sometimes a little better known, they have noticed something that needs done, that which lifts others before themselves, and rather than wait and moan they do it. They can lead us into the new year.

Nominate a Changemaker for 2024 here.

Our changemakers range from teachers who, without fuss, started a food bank in their school (teachers should not need to start a food bank in their school) to a man on the front line in Ukraine risking his life to help the devastated. There are many in-between, almost 100, including environment-fixing goats.

Your support changes lives. Find out how you can help us help more people by signing up for a subscription

This year we carry a category for those working to help people hammered by the cost-of-living crisis.

Advertisement
Advertisement

The recent period of confusion and flux has taught us that we cannot rely on top-down change. Leaders are not leading. There is no bright plan.

Life need not be nasty, brutish and short. Around us there are people in our communities, grassroots grafters and fearless figureheads who aspire to more for all. To those creators, the agitators, the activists and the thinkers, to those doing their best to make things better, we celebrate and thank you all.

Welcome to The Big Issue 100 Changemakers 2023.

Paul McNamee is editor of the Big IssueRead more of his columns here. Follow him on Twitter

This article is taken from The Big Issue magazine, which exists to give homeless, long-term unemployed and marginalised people the opportunity to earn an income.

To support our work buy a copy! If you cannot reach your local vendor, you can still click HERE to subscribe to The Big Issue today or give a gift subscription to a friend or family member. You can also purchase one-off issues from The Big Issue Shop or The Big Issue app, available now from the App Store or Google Play.

Advertisement

Change a vendor's life this Christmas

This Christmas, 3.8 million people across the UK will be facing extreme poverty. Thousands of those struggling will turn to selling the Big Issue as a vital source of income - they need your support to earn and lift themselves out of poverty.

Recommended for you

View all
'Where's the compassion?': Council refuses to give 11-year-old boy his father's ashes after funeral
Funeral poverty

'Where's the compassion?': Council refuses to give 11-year-old boy his father's ashes after funeral

DWP benefit reforms to get people into work are 'smokescreen for cuts', disability activist says
dwp secretary liz kendall
Disability benefits

DWP benefit reforms to get people into work are 'smokescreen for cuts', disability activist says

Ending post-Grenfell cladding crisis could take until 2035 and beyond: 'Unacceptably slow'
Grenfell tower
Cladding crisis

Ending post-Grenfell cladding crisis could take until 2035 and beyond: 'Unacceptably slow'

We've given 50,000 haircuts to homeless people – here's how a simple trim can change everything
Photo of man hugging a woman to illustrate a story about the Haircuts 4 Homeless charity
Homelessness

We've given 50,000 haircuts to homeless people – here's how a simple trim can change everything

Most Popular

Read All
Renters pay their landlords' buy-to-let mortgages, so they should get a share of the profits
Renters: A mortgage lender's window advertising buy-to-let products
1.

Renters pay their landlords' buy-to-let mortgages, so they should get a share of the profits

Exclusive: Disabled people are 'set up to fail' by the DWP in target-driven disability benefits system, whistleblowers reveal
Pound coins on a piece of paper with disability living allowancve
2.

Exclusive: Disabled people are 'set up to fail' by the DWP in target-driven disability benefits system, whistleblowers reveal

Cost of living payment 2024: Where to get help now the scheme is over
next dwp cost of living payment 2023
3.

Cost of living payment 2024: Where to get help now the scheme is over

Strike dates 2023: From train drivers to NHS doctors, here are the dates to know
4.

Strike dates 2023: From train drivers to NHS doctors, here are the dates to know