The Big Community Challenge

The Big Community Challenge is an annual volunteering project, coordinated by York Cares.

Organised in partnership with the City of York Council’s ECO Team and the Councillors for Environment and Climate Emergency, St. Nicks and the University of York, the Big Community Challenge brings employers together over a month to make a transformational change in urban green spaces across the city. It is an opportunity to come together, to be part of something big in the city and to make a real difference to our local environment.

Big Community Challenge 2026: "Ready, Set, Rawcliffe!"

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Sustainability at York

Key information

Key dates 2026

The Big Community Challenge 2026 will be taking place from 21 September to 16 October 2026.

This year's location

The BCC will take place at Rawcliffe Country Park, focusing on a single location for 2026.

Get involved

NOW OPEN FOR VOLUNTEERS: Find out more by visiting the York Cares BCC announcement blog.

Big Community Challenge 2025

Between 22 September and 16 October 2025, York Cares hosted the 17th Big Community Challenge, engaging more than 450 employee-volunteers from 13 different businesses. This resulted in more than 1,100 hours of collective volunteering committed to this year's goal of becoming ‘Connected By Nature’, celebrating the ways natural spaces support wellbeing and unite our community.

In 2025, employee-volunteers completed a full restoration of the Bull Lane entrance to St Nicks Nature Reserve. Additionally, other projects, such as building ephemeral ponds to protect Rowntree Park, rebuilding and improving rose beds originally built during BCC 2009 and many other small projects, which would have taken months to complete without the Big Community Challenge.

York Cares Impact Report 2025

In 2025, York Cares celebrated its 20th anniversary. Discover the impact the organisation has made through employee volunteering across the City of York, including the Big Community Challenge.

About York Cares

Visit the York Cares website to learn more about their programmes and how you can get involved.

How to get involved

York Cares has announced this year’s Big Community Challenge 2026, offering four weeks of volunteering at Rawcliffe Country Park and its surrounding floodplain meadows. From 21 September, volunteers will help rejuvenate the park, support nature recovery and biodiversity, and make the space even more enjoyable for local communities.

Staff can get involved throughout the four-week challenge and help make a positive difference to York’s green spaces.

Find out more and sign up via the York Cares announcement blog.

Big Community Challenge 2026

Contact us

Sustainability at York