Lead The Change UnLtd – Project Funded By UnLtd

Projects Funded by UnLtd

These are examples of projects funded across UnLtd at different levels.

Brendon Thomson, Static Bounce

18 year old Brendon set up his Static Bounce project to get local young people off the streets and focused on learning new skills. As a talented dancer who has taken part in many competitions around the country, Brendon knows the buzz that getting involved in street dance can bring. He brings this enthusiasm and his choreographing skills to the street dance classes he runs. At present these are in Wakefield, but he hopes to expand into other areas in the future.

Brendon is looking for volunteer dance teachers to extend his crew.

Jenny Dawson, Rubies in the Rubble

Jenny discovered that around 60% of the 12,000 tonnes of fruit and vegetables which were thrown away at New Spitalfields Market each year were still fit for purpose. Horrified at the waste, she set up Rubies in the Rubble. This is a cooking community that makes use of the produce by turning it into chutneys and jam which are sold at the local market and where vulnerable women can gain skills and meet new people.

Visit www.rubiesintherubble.com to find out why Jenny was named as one of Britain’s 50 New Radicals by The Observer and NESTA.

Emma Morris, Beyond Youth

Emma set up Beyond Youth (BY) to help break the cycle of offending and increase life chances for 14-25 year olds. Delivered through the highly successful Chance 2 Change project, BY provides intensive group based interventions that tackle the REAL reasons why so many young people are entrenched within the criminal justice system.

Visit www.bigventurechallenge.com to find out more about BY and Emma’s plans to develop a franchise model to be rolled out nationally across the prison population.

Karrie Marshall, Creativity in Care

Isolation can be a real problem for people in care who are unable to communicate through words, whether this is because of culture, learning disability, dementia or mental ill-health. Karrie set up Creativity in Care to find ways to re-connect with people beyond the constraints of spoken or remembered words. She takes a novel approach by delivering learning resources, programmes and workshops in different and uplifting ways.

Karrie has a great website full of inspiring stories, interesting projects and ways to get involved at www.creativityincare.org

Gary Staniforth, Hidden Homeless

In 2008, Gary was homeless and living in Salvation Army accommodation in Bradford. He felt that the homeless and people who use support services didn’t have a voice so he started a magazine, Hidden Voices, which is sold and distributed to all the homeless providers in the area and to the public through street vendors.

As the magazine is written, designed and produced by the homeless, it offers service users the opportunity to develop new skills, motivation and potential routes to employment.

Read the full story about Gary and how his venture received £28,000 when it was featured on Channel 4’s Secret Millionaire at www.hiddenhomeless.co.uk

Alexandra Lockett, Project Pigeon

Alex noticed that across Birmingham there was a lack of opportunities for people from different generations and cultures to work together. As a pigeon-fancier herself, she knew that these birds could help to bring people together so she set up her project to provide workshops, events and exhibitions. She has recently started work on creating an archive about the history and culture of pigeon-fancying in Birmingham and her UnLtd Engage Award has enabled her to rent space to extend the reach of the project.

Find out more about Alex, her passion for pigeons and her plans at www.project-pigeon.co.uk

Carol Massey, Jigsaw Community Counselling Centre

Growing up in North Belfast, Carol knows the effects of conflict and inter-community violence. As a trained counsellor, she set up Jigsaw CCC to offer culturally sensitive therapy and supportive mentoring to people living in the area. Working with local groups and organisations as well as GPs and pharmacists to reach as many people as possible, Carol’s plans for the next 12 months include expanding Jigsaw’s counselling, mentoring and primary school services.

Read more at: www.jigsawccc.co.uk

Peter Olawaye, Aiming Skywards CIC

Peter saw many of his peers getting into trouble and ending up in prison. Now he provides workshops, mentoring and other levels of support to young people aged 11-25 at risk of offending. He also runs Hackney 2 City, which equips local young people with skills they could put into practice at a work placement in the City. Peter’s success led to an invitation to speak at the Houses of Parliament about youth employment.

See Peter’s plans for the coming year at www.aimingskywards.com

Jo Scott, Moving Forward (Millisle Youth Forum)

With very few facilities for young people and virtually no job opportunities, the small seaside village of Millisle in Northern Ireland had its fair share of problems with anti-social behaviour. In 2009,

Jo and a team of volunteers set up the forum to provide activities and training opportunities. The success and popularity of these has enabled them to scale up and they are currently refurbishing disused premises to provide a place to hang-out and hold workshops.

Find out more about Millisle Youth Forum on Facebook.