OUR STARS OF 2012
The Tomorrow’s People Awards for Achievement
02/03
THE STAND OUT INDIVIDUALS OF 2012
Our annual Awards for Achievement recognise the adults and young people who have leapt the highest hurdles to find work. Paul’s agoraphobia meant he barely left the house in three years, Sam suffered serious depression, Adrian had an offending past, and Dave had lost everything, his job, his relationship and his home. These, and our other award winners, overcame these and other daunting problems to find work.
We are proud of all the people we help into work. But some are truly exceptional.
Our awards also recognise the outstanding funders, local and national employers and individuals who support our work across the country. We salute you all!
< Award winner Paul Ford talks to guest presenter Sally Eden
Our corporate partners Clifford Chance generously hosted this yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s awards at their office in Canary Wharf, London, on 18th October 2012.
This year we are delighted to announce a new award to recognise young people in school who have overcome enormous barriers to get their lives back on track.
04/05
PERSONAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARD 14-19 AGE GROUP
We are so proud of Lucy. She has come on leaps and bounds.
Runner up Bervi Makuendi
Winner Lucy Byford
Last year 15-year-old Bervi was in a bad place. Her parents came to the UK in the 1990s and the family lived in an area with a culture of drug and gang crime. At school she was confrontational and difficult. She wasn’t learning.
Aged 17 Lucy was withdrawn, was being held back by low confidence and found it difficult to trust others. She lacked any qualifications that would allow her to move forward with her life.
Lucy’s tutor Jill Jempson
Bervi was referred to the ThinkForward programme and, after just six months with a mentor, her school say she had “responded brilliantly”.
When she first joined Tomorrow’s People Foundation Learning, she rarely turned up on time, had trouble concentrating or interacting with others.
Where once conflict and breaking the rules was the norm, she is now “polite and friendly; focused and engaged”. She has mentored younger students and has developed an ambition to be a youth worker.
But in February 2012 she sat her first ever set of exams, in literacy, numeracy and ICT. The arrival of her certificates spurred Lucy on to sit more.
Her mum is very proud, and so are we.
< B ervi pictured with her mum and her mentor Darrin Reece
I am determined to make something of myself and make my mum proud. Bervi Makuendi
• Lucy was unable to attend the awards because of college commitments
06/07
PERSONAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARD 16-24 AGE GROUP
Sam has turned his life around 100 per cent.
Runner up Jahir Hussain
Winner Sam Foster
As the main carer for his mother and four younger siblings, 17-year-old Jahir suffered from chronic insomnia and anxiety.
Sam was a high achiever at school and won himself an apprenticeship with a local employer. But things went wrong.
When he joined the ThinkForward programme, and started working with a mentor in school, he was on the verge of being permanently excluded for his poor behaviour.
He felt he wasn’t coping with his job and became depressed. He found it hard to leave his bedroom and spent hours watching TV and playing video games. He gained weight.
The change has been remarkable. Jahir gained GCSEs in English, Maths, Business Studies, Science and Drama, and went on to a Level 3 Apprenticeship in Business and Administration.
But on a Tomorrow’s People Working It Out programme Sam, 18, began to thrive. He adopted a healthy diet and lost seven stone. His witty personality emerged and he developed an ambition to be a journalist.
He secured an apprenticeship with Axis Europe, and did so well he has been offered a full-time job.
Jahir completely turned around his school performance and job prospects.
Sam’s Task Force Leader Emma Whincup
Sam has started media studies at a sixth form college and he has a clear direction for his life.
08/09
PERSONAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARD 25 PLUS AGE GROUP Runner up Adrian Baker Adrian had a criminal record dating back to when he was 15. But during his last spell in prison, he made a decision: no more crime. He came to Tomorrow’s People in 2011, aged 24. His Employment Adviser, Jane Hill, says: “When he came to us, Adrian had very low self esteem. But he kept every single appointment, and he kept an open mind to improve his work prospects.” That included training to gain a Fork Life Truck licence. In June, despite several setbacks, and against the odds, Adrian secured a permanent, full-time job with DHL. Despite struggles and setbacks, Adrian refused to give up until he found work. • Adrian was unable to attend the awards because of work commitments.
Dave is now the Operations and Technical Manager at Affordable Cleaning and Services and is busy winning the company new business.
< Dave Cole
Winner, David Cole Dave’s life story has been described as page turning. Dave has a long-term medical condition and suffered a serious assault by a gang with a concrete block. Aged 53, he had an extensive career behind him, including managerial roles. But market conditions and health problems left him out of work. For two years he applied for jobs at every level. But he had no luck. When he joined the Work Programme in Bristol run by Tomorrow’s People, he tried everything, attending interviews, employers’ open days and job fairs. But still no job. Then disaster struck. His relationship ended, leaving him with no car and no home. He had only a very few possessions in a bag.
Dave impressed us hugely with his determination. Truly exceptional. Dave’s employer, Spencer Delbridge at Affordable Cleaning and Services
Dave refused to give up and, seeing an advert for a cleaning job, he applied. Despite being homeless, he attended the interview looking his best in a suit and tie. Finally, he struck lucky. The company director saw he was over-qualified and offered to consider him for the role of Area Sales Manager. With only 24 hours’ notice, Dave was told to create a presentation for his second interview. The whole Tomorrow’s People team in Bristol pitched in to help. He got the job, and returned to the Tomorrow’s People office to a hero’s welcome.
10/11
ROGER STERBA AWARD FOR ACHIEVEMENT AGAINST ADVERSITY Winner Paul Ford Paul has made a remarkable journey, from being virtually housebound with agoraphobia to speaking in the House of Lords. Paul has adult autism and acute anxiety that meant he found it difficult to look people in the eye or leave the house on his own. For three years he was a virtual prisoner in his own home. But meeting our employment adviser, Giselle Martin, who is based on his Maidstone estate, changed all that.
He no longer needs formal help for anxiety and manages his OCD on his own. He even accepted an invitation to the House of Lords to speak about the barriers to work he and others like him face – an achievement that would have been unthinkable a year ago. Paul has since graduated from a painting and decorating course with flying colours. He is fully integrated into his local community and has developed the confidence to contact local employers for work.
She helped him get a diagnosis for his autism and encouraged the father of three to volunteer in the Tomorrow’s People café and centre, hugely boosting his confidence. > Paul Ford with his adviser Alec Mohun-Smith
12/13
WORKING IT OUT CHALLENGE TEAM OF THE YEAR Winners The Inbetweeners The Old Manâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Club in Port Glasgow, Inverclyde, is a lifeline to many of the pensioners who regularly socialise there. The 12 young people who called themselves The Inbetweeners and who made up the Inverclyde Working It Out team, would normally never come into contact with the pensioners. But when the club needed a new kitchen, flooring and decoration, The Inbetweeners took on the job as their community challenge. With support from local businesses, they completed the task, getting to know the club members as they worked. But vandals broke in, smashing windows and an aquarium that the men had tended for more than 20 years. The team returned, and restored the club more enthusiastically than ever.
Not only have The Inbetweeners helped a community centre, but they have improved their own work prospects, learnt valuable skills and established their reputation with local employers.
14/15
COMMUNITY PARTNER OF THE YEAR
CORPORATE PARTNER OF THE YEAR
Runner up The Heathfield Partnership
Winner Merseyside Probation Achieve Team
Runner up TowerBrook
Winner Pershing
The Heathfield Partnership Trust worked tirelessly with us to create a unique venture, Heathfield Works! The programme supports jobless young people in a rural market town, where there is no employment support and poor transport. The new programme has had a 100% success rate with its first four groups.
Merseyside Probation Achieve Team has worked with some 2,000 ex-offenders as part of the Tomorrow’s People Getting Out to Work programme. Together, our success rate has been remarkable: 47% of participants have left crime for training and work.
Investment management company TowerBrook has welcomed young people from our programmes on office tours, allowing them to make contact with the corporate world. Staff also give their own time to run mock interviews. TowerBrook’s efforts have helped raise young people’s aspirations and boosted their job prospects.
Pershing has a thriving three-year partnership with Tomorrow’s People. The global financial services company has provided substantial grants for our youth programmes, training for our staff, employability skills workshops for unemployed adults, and even pioneered a clothes bank so they have suitable interview and work clothes.
Councillor Rupert Simmons, Chairman of the Heathfield Partnership Trust
Christine Bennett and Jeanette Taylor
Axel Meyersiek of TowerBrook with guest speakers Jo Dibb and Baroness Grey-Thompson (Tanni Grey-Thompson)
Phil Canale of Pershing
16/17
EMPLOYER OF THE YEAR
AMBASSADOR OF THE YEAR
Winner Reverend Angus Aagaard Angus has worked with Tomorrow’s People for seven years and his support of our first social enterprise, the Kennington Flower Stall, has made all the difference. Working on the flower stall teaches unemployed young people vital work skills, and Angus has helped make it happen. He has allowed the stall to be set up at a busy spot in front of his church, St Anselm’s.
Runner up The Elixir Group
Winner Timpsons
The Elixir Group has helped more than 700 ex-offenders and offenders serving community sentences, and has a close partnership with Tomorrow’s People on Merseyside. Elixir runs recycling and property refurbishment businesses and, in the first year of the partnership, the group employed 15 referred offenders, who receive training, coaching and mentoring to help them stay in work.
High street chain Timpsons offers a fresh chance to clients in both Bristol and Merseyside, to ex-offenders who want to leave crime for a new life in work. Timpson holds regular mock recruitment days for our clients, to help them improve their interview skills. In the first year of the partnership, 80 clients have benefited from advice on applications and interviews, and three have started work at Timpsons.
Ben Donnelly and Jenny Kelly of Elixir
Tom Saxon, of Timpsons
He provides power free of charge and has pounded the streets himself to drum up business. He even recruited a bishop as a customer.
Angus is now sowing further seeds of hope, helping us to find land for a market garden, where young people will get work experience and training.
Tomorrowâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s People is a national employment charity. Our mission is to help excluded and disadvantaged people to get and keep a job.
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