At The Forefront with Mary Rose Gunn

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 effectiveHow he built three thriving social enterprises — and why he’s already dreaming up four moreWhy he believes social businesses have the power to rebuild communities across the UK.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

The number of young people not in employment, education or training (NEET) has risen by 23% in the last 2 years. The traditional Job Centre Plus model is not working. Change is needed to help get the next generation of young people kick started in to great careers.In this episode, Mary Rose speaks to the CEO of Youth Employment charity RISE UP. RISE UP are taking action by coaching and mentoring young people to conduct their own job search; facilitating jobs, apprenticeships and work experience placements. The results speak for themselves. Since its inception, RISEUP has offered over 800 hours of 1:1 coaching, facilitated 89 impactful work placements, and supported an incredible 818 young people toward brighter futures.Having left school at just 14, Roman knows exactly what the young people he is working with are up against. Listen to find out what Roman thinks are the biggest barriers to employment for young people, and how we can be the change we need to see.

Youth crime and violence in the UK is increasing at an alarming rate, at large part due to £1billion in cuts to youth services between 2010 and 2019. Children and young people have been abandoned by the system in many places. Charitable organisations have have had to take matters in to their own hands.In this episode Mary Rose speaks to founder of the London Basketball Association (LBA) Tony Lazare. LBA supports 4000 young people aged 11 to 24 each year across five London boroughs. Operating on an annual income of just £265k, the social savings from their impact are estimated at £18 millionUsing basketball as its primary engagement tool, LBA offers opportunities to become accredited as a basketball coach or official, building employability and life skills. Since LBA was founded in 2012, 913 coaches and officials have been certified.