Elaine began her career with a Hons Degree in Criminology and Social Policy from the University Manchester in 2000. Since graduating she has gone on to gain substantial experience leading and managing play and youth work over 20 years.
She joined Manchester Youth Offending Service in 2001 where she worked in Restorative Justice supervising young people on Referral Orders. Elaine moved to Catch 22 in 2007 to manage the North Manchester Youth Inclusion Project where she led the introduction of Parenting Orders to support young offenders and parents work together with intensive support packages.
In 2012 Elaine joined Manchester Young Lives to head up MYL’s rapidly expanding city-wide play and youth provision. In this role Elaine had overseen the recruitment, training and development of 11 play locations in the city, introduced a quality framework for play, managed a series of successful Ofsted inspections and secured further investment in playground structures.
Elaine has been the Strategic lead for Play in Manchester for 8 years offering support, guidance and to play and youth providers across the city. Elaine led on a city-wide play satisfaction consultation in 2021, a large-scale National Play Day event for Our Year 2022 and supported MCC with drafting the updated Manchester Play Strategy.
In October 2022 Elaine was appointed CEO, continuing her passion to make a difference to the lives of children and young people across the City of Manchester.