What does it take to give young people a fighting chance when opportunity isn’t equal?

In this At The Forefront session, we speak to Martin Bisp, co-founder of Empire Fighting Chance, a charity that pairs boxing with mentoring, therapy and educational support to help young people build confidence and take control of their futures.

Our CEO, Mary Rose Gunn, explores how Martin has taken this model beyond one place by training boxing clubs across the UK, and globally, to deliver similar programmes, while keeping Empire Fighting Chance’s mission firmly rooted in Bristol and guided by the needs of local young people.

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In this episode, Mary Rose speaks to Matt Parfitt, a social entrepreneur and founder of Grace Enterprises – a network of social enterprises that provide pathways to employment for people who’ve faced homelessness, addiction, or experiences with the criminal justice system. Through employing, mentoring and coaching, Matt is showing how sustainable enterprises can rebuild lives.

Listen to find out:

• what makes his model of supportive employment so effective
• How he built three thriving social enterprises — and why he’s already dreaming up four more
• Why he believes social businesses have the power to rebuild communities across the UK.

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Why are so many young people in underserved communities growing up without the basic financial skills they need for everyday life?

In this At The Forefront session, we speak to Abdirahman Ahmed, Founder of Urban Rise, to find out how his organisation is tackling financial exclusion by giving young people the confidence and knowledge to take control of their money and their futures.

Our CEO, Mary Rose Gunn, dive into how Urban Rise’s programmes are building financial literacy and breaking cycles of debt. Together, they explore what being on top of your finances really looks like and why the young people who need these skills the most are often the least likely to have access to them.

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Why are there 800,000 young people not in education, employment or training? Is it because they’re lazy, or are they being failed by a broken system?

In this At The Forefront session, we speak to Sam Squire, CEO of Inspire 2 Ignite CIC, to hear the true cost of having so many economically inactive young people, and how his programmes are supporting them into great work and education opportunities.

The Fore’s CEO, Mary Rose Gunn, explores how Inspire 2 Ignite’s innovative approach to engaging young people sparks entrepreneurial spirit and delivers real results. Together, they dig into the root causes behind the NEET crisis in the UK and uncover what needs to change to fix it.

If you care about the future of our young people and want to know what you can do to help, this one's for you.

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Our CEO, Mary Rose Gunn, sat down with Hope Oloye, founder of Thinking Black, to explore how she’s opening doors for young Black students in the UK. Hope shared:

💡 How her experience at an Oxford college led her to start Thinking Black

💡 The barriers facing Black British students – and whether schools and universities are doing enough

💡 How ripples from across the pond are having impact on corporate partnerships in the UK

💡 What white allies can do to support racial justice – Spoiler: talk about it more!

Hope also shared her essential reading and listening 👇

📖 Natives by Akala

📖 Transgressions in Teaching by Bell Hooks

📖 Minority Rules by Ash Sarkar

🎧 BBC Sounds: Sound and Vision - Steve McQueen Small Axe special

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We're thrilled to welcome our next At The Forefront speaker: Founder of Rethink Food, Nathan Atkinson. Rethink Food are a charity with a mission to create a generation of healthy, food-literate, and environmentally conscious young people.

Founded by two teachers in response to children arriving at school Hungry, they support families and teachers to make healthier choices, reduce food waste and tackle food insecurity. And they're making a big impact.

In 2024 alone Rethink Food supplied over 500 tonnes of surplus food, creating more than 900,000 meals for families, schools and communities. In fact, their work has now grown into a nationwide movement. They now partner with schools all over the UK to deliver cutting-edge programmes that inspire young people to rethink their relationship with food and the planet.

Listen in to hear how they're taking the food crisis by the scruff of the neck and transforming lives through food security and education.

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If you love food and community this one's for you. Modern industrial farming is broken. It’s harming the planet, driving food insecurity and breaking down communities.

Our At The Forefront guest this month is proving there’s a better way. Abel Pearson is the founder of Glasbren, a Wales based organisation that are showing smaller scale, sustainable farms led by local communities can address both local and global challenges while promoting mental and physical health.

Mary Rose Gunn sat down with Abel to explore Glasbren’s vision for future farming and uncover the challenges small-scale farms and communities are facing.

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The crisis in the mental health of girls and young women in the UK is escalating, with a recent Girls Guide report finding that girls are more unhappy now than they have ever been. The lack of early intervention support means low self-esteem is allowed to develop unchecked.

In this At The Forefront, Mary Rose speaks to Char Bevan, founder and CEO of girls' mental health charity Flourish. As a youth support worker Char wasn’t willing to accept the despondent attitude that girls' mental health was 'just how it is' she found amongst many of her colleagues. And so, Flourish was born.

As the only girl-focused specialists working on early intervention, Flourish is a unique and ground-breaking organisation in Warwickshire.

By offering one-to-one and group mentoring programmes, Flourish are helping girls to tackle the issues that are holding them back. They create a space for girls to look at challenges, create solutions and reach their potential.

The results speak for themselves.

Since its creation in 2014, Flourish have helped over 1,000 girls aged 11-18 with an incredible 86% reporting improvement in their well-being and 82% seeing an improvement in the self-esteem as a direct result of Flourish.

Watch now to find out what Char thinks are the biggest challenges to girls, and how we can make a difference to the girls and women in our lives.

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