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Thursday 25th April was a big day for us, marking five years of impact and success for Yes Futures as we’ve grown from a tiny idea to a big force for change.
Our Five / Five celebration event was held at Marylebone Boys School, one of our longest standing partner schools! We were delighted to be joined by a range of our supporters and partners, including Barclays, HP, Pearson, Gartner and Hawkins Brown, as well as students, Coaches, Trustees, ambassadors and guests.
Sarah Wallbank, our Chief Executive, gave a speech of thanks, in which she said
“Just over five years ago we became a registered charity, and launched our first five year plan. We’ve totally surpassed all the expectations we had back then! We’ve expanded well outside of London, we’re working with primary schools as well as secondary schools and we’ve already got 48 school partners. It’s been incredible.”
Sophie Bartlett, our Impact Manager, highlighted our achievements and impact to date, noting that since launching in 2014, we’ve had a significant impact on the lives of over 1,100 young people, helping to shape and transform their futures. This year we are working across 40 schools with 700 young people, which is our greatest number to date, and has well surpassed targets!
We were delighted by the turnout of guests who came to show their support for Yes Futures and were thrilled to be joined by two very special guests: Madalina and Adam, two of our Graduate Ambassadors from our very first pilot launch!
The pair talked about how Yes Futures had helped them to overcome barriers, encouraged them to achieve their potential and helped to lead them on to their path today. Madalina and Adam, who are both now studying science degrees at Bristol and Warwick Universities, are a testament to this.
89% of our Ambassadors say they wouldn't be where they are today if they hadn't been part of Yes Futures.
Around the room, we had an exciting exhibition, showing the impact and reach of Yes Futures’ work to date. The largest display was a giant ‘Journey Tree’ outlining our vision and asking insightful questions as to how to better develop our programmes and achieve our goals.
We also had a pledge wall for guests to make pledges of support: there are multiple ways you can join our journey too!
You can become a Coach, host a World of Work day or simply donate to support more children to access our programmes.
And you can help us right now, with just one minute of your time! Please vote for us to win £1,000! (Our charity number is: 1155082).
Having reflected on the past five years, we are now extremely excited and are already planning the next five years! With ambitious plans for growth, we look forward to deepening our impact and developing our programmes as we work together with more schools and strengthen our existing relationships.
To everyone who’s helped to shape our success so far - thank you and, as always, if you’re interested in getting involved please do get in touch!
Annica Curtis,
Community Engagement Officer