"Highly Commended" in Charity of the Year category

Chance UK were highly commended in the Charity of the Year for charities with an income of less than Pound1 million at the Charity Times awards last night.

The nomination and commendation came on the back of a highly successful year, which featured a reception in 10 Downing Street, contributing to Centre for Social Justice research and developing its intern programme.

The category was won by IntoUniversity, who work with children and young people who are at risk of underachieving and are seeking to improve their life chances. 

Gracia McGrath OBE speaks about the Fear Factory

The Chief Executive of Chance UK, Gracia McGrath OBE, spoke on Press TV on Saturday 7th August about the Fear Factory film, and the impact of anti-crime laws on British children.

Press TV is Iran's television network, broadcasting in English, and the show was devoted to the groundbreaking film exposing the arms race in anti-crime laws.

You can watch the full show on the Press TV website.

Our CEO presents to funders and voluntary sector figures

Chance UK’s Chief Exeuctive, Gracia McGrath OBE, delivered a presentation on Intervening Early for the Big Society with New Philanthropy Capital on Chance UK’s innovative early intervention mentoring model, to an audience of funders and voluntary sector figures. 

Statistics that backed up the effectiveness of our early intervention project were presented, as the packed audience of voluntary sector staff and funders looked to increase their knowledge on working in this area.

The Place2Be and CSV's Volunteers in Child Protection project also presented on how their particular early intervention projects not only transformed children’s lives, but were also an effective use of limited resources and created massive savings for public services.

You can watch a video of Gracia’s presentation on the NPC YouTube channel.

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New Commission to be headed by Graham Allen MP 

Chance UK welcomes yesterday’s announcement of a new independent commission into early intervention, which aims to ensure that children at greatest risk of multiple disadvantage get the best start in life. The commission is to be chaired by Graham Allen MP and has been confirmed by Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, RT Hon Iain Duncan Smith MP and Children’s Minister, Sarah Teather.

Early intervention can provide children with the social and emotional support needed to help fulfill their potential and break the cycles of underachievement which blight some of our poorest communities. The commission will look at and recommend the best models for early intervention and advise on how these could be extended to all parts of the country. 

Chance UK’s Chief Executive Gracia McGrath OBE said, “At Chance UK, we have always advocated that for early intervention to succeed it needs to be outside of party politics. So we welcome the cross-party leadership of the commission all of whom are long-standing advocates of early intervention.

"We particularly welcome Graham Allen’s comment that for early intervention to be a success, it needs to span across a generation. It is very refreshing to hear from the Chair of the Committee that he knows there are no quick fix solutions. 

“Chance UK have been providing an effective early intervention service for 15 years and have extended the work to all parts of the country through our partnership model. We look forward to playing a part in the government’s plans to provide children with the tools they need to fulfil their potential. ”  

Chance UK welcomes Justice Secretary's speech

Chance UK is encouraged by yesterday's speech by Justice Secretary Ken Clarke MP's on sentencing.

Clarke outlined plans to change what he called the "bang em up" culture of the last 20 years, and pointed towards preventative measures when the government's review of sentencing is published in the autumn.

Chief Executive of Chance UK, Gracia McGrath OBE, said, "We support constructive measures to reduce the UK's prison population. However, if the coalition government fails to address the long term reasons behind this growth and fails to invests in early intervention programmes like Chance UK, the impact will be short term and we will keep paying for our short-sightedness for generations. 

“If funding for early intervention is not a central part of the justice review, Ken Clarke will be unable to have the impact on prison numbers that he wants, and we will continue on this endless cycle of offending and reoffending."

"We have the evidence that we work, and there is even more evidence to support the effectiveness of similar programmes. We hope the government adopts an approach based on what really works."

Fighting Chance - Tackling Britain's Gang Culture available now

Chance UK is featured in a new book on Britain's crime culture by Patrick Regan, which is available now nationwide.

"Fighting Chance - Tackling Britain's Gang Culture" features a section on Chance UK's innovative early intervention mentoring project, which aims to prevent gang membership and criminal activity later in life.

Chance UK worked closely with the author Patrick Regan, who also contributed to a Centre for Social Justice report called Dying to Belong. Our Chief Executive Gracia McGrath OBE co-wrote the groundbreaking report.

Fighting Chance is available nationwide and from amazon.co.uk 

Fundraiser raises over Pound2,000, cycling over 1,500 kms

Chance UK's star fundraiser Daniel Wrightson has completed his epic cycling journey from Lands End to John O'Groats in 10 days, raising Pound2,240 for Chance UK in the process.

Daniel and his team of elite cyclists arrived at John O'Groats after:

- cycling for 1,500 kms, 

- climbing over 10,000 metres,

- burning around 50,000 calories and 

- pedalling for nearly 75 hours over 10 days. 

Daniel said, "It takes just as long to cycle through Scotland as it does to cycle across England - we were in Gretna Green by day five and still had five more days to go. The landscape in Scotland, particularly cycling across Rannoch Mor and through Glen Coe, is absolutely stunning and we were lucky with the weather. A big thanks to everyone involved!"

You can still sponsor Daniel to congratulate his incredible achievement by visiting www.justgiving.com/bike2jog   

Daniel just a few hundred miles from his goal

Chance UK fundraiser, Daniel Wrightson, is just a few hundred miles away from completing his epic journey across Britain in aid of Chance UK.

Daniel is completing the historic Lands End to John O'Groats trek in just 10 days, covering 1,000 miles in the process.

Speaking from Scotland, Daniel said "It's hard work, particularly burning 4,000 to 5,000 calories per day and sitting on the saddle for so long! But we'll get there, and look forward to cracking open the champagne."

To donate to Daniel and his team, just visit www.justgiving.com/bike2jog.  

Bolton volunteers recognised by the Queen with prestigious award

Chance UK's new partnership programme, Bolton Lads and Girls Club, has been announced as one of 103 UK volunteering groups to win this year’s The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service, the MBE for volunteer groups.

Chance UK was one of the government's GoldStar mentoring programmes along with BLGC, who have just become Chance UK's latest partners. The two organisations will provide a seamless mentoring service for 5-19 year olds, and are in talks to identify a pilot area for this work.

Bolton Lads and Girls Club has received the Queens Award for its inspirational Mentoring Project, which sees young people receive one-to-one and group support from responsible adult role models, who volunteer their services. 

The club’s Mentoring Team will receive a certificate signed by the Queen and an exclusive commemorative crystal at a special ceremony.  

Karen Edwards, chief executive of Bolton Lads and Girls Club, said: “We are delighted to accept this award and to receive such high recognition of our work with young people in Bolton. The Mentoring Project reaches out to the young people who are most in need of positive role models and helps to guide them to a brighter future. We accept this on behalf of all of the staff, volunteers and young members of Bolton Lads and Girls Club.” 

Gracia McGrath OBE, chief executive of Chance UK, said: "Everyone at Chance UK is delighted that such an inspiring project has received such a prestigious award. The Queen's Award for Voluntary Service is the highest accolade that any volunteering project can receive, and we look forward to working more closely with our new partners in the future."

Our response to the Queen's Speech

Chance UK today responded to the Queen's Speech, outlining the coalition government's legislative programme.

"There is a real need to ensure that public money is used wisely, and we can see that the new government are trying to do that across the board," said Chief Executive, Gracia McGrath O.B.E.

"It would make sense that as they flesh out their plans for fighting crime, that the cheapest and most effective methods are prioritised. That puts early intervention schemes like Chance UK's at the top of the list.

"It's also good to see that the coalition are committed to improving schooling for children from the most deprived backgrounds", Gracia added. "One of the main calls from our manifesto was to keep children in school as far as possible, and we'd like to see projects like this continue."

Michael and Ant raise Pound350 for Chance UK

10-year-old Anthony Sammut from Hackney and his Chance UK mentor Michael Semark completed their first triathalon on Sunday, raising Pound350 for the charity that brought them together in the process.

Michael was matched with Anthony by early intervention children’s charity Chance UK, They completed the Hatch End Harrow Triathalon on Sunday 11th May.

Ant’s mentor Michael said, “Ant has shown how dedication and focus can achieve a great result. He is now looking forward to joining a local triathlon club. I am so proud of him - and he is a great example of how excess energy can be focused into a force for good and raising his self belief.”

10-year-old Anthony said, “I feel very proud that I completed the Triathlon. I am also very happy that I can give something back to Chance UK, and other children in Hackney. I had a great day and would like to thank Michael for helping me with training for the day and making all of the arrangements. I'd also like to thank everyone who sponsored us and supported us on the day."

You can still donate to Ant and Michael’s appeal in aid of Chance UK at www.justgiving.com/michaelmrant606. 

Rob and Jo finish in under five hours

Chance UK's amazing marathon runners completed the recent event in under five hours each, raising Pound1,500 and counting for Chance UK in the process.

Rob finished in 4hrs 4mins, while Jo made it under her target of five hours.

Rob is already in the process of becoming a Chance UK mentor, and explains what motivated him to run for us.

“Having witnessed the huge positive effects that individual interventions can have on young people through my participation in sport, I'm delighted to support such a well designed programme,” Rob explained.

“Chance UK provides structure, encouragement and positive direction at a critical point in a child's development. I’ve already started training to become a mentor with Chance UK, so that I can help a child achieve their full potential.” 

To raise money for Chance UK safely and securely, just visit www.justgiving.com/chanceuk 

Support our vision for early intervention

Chance UK's Manifesto

The UK spends 11 times more on locking up children than it spends on preventing them going to prison in the first place. Our prison population is by far the highest in Europe, and we're building even more prisons to accommodate this ever expanding number.

Chance UK's calls on the next UK government to:

1. Prioritise early intervention schemes

80% of crime is caused by adults who displayed behavioural difficulties as children*. It is therefore vital to intervene early with children at risk. Schemes like Chance UK can cost as little as Pound4,000 per child per year, whereas each adult offender can cost the taxpayer up to Pound200,000 a year - to say nothing of the emotional impact they have on their families and victims. Early intervention schemes are more effective and cheaper than punitive ones. Therefore we call on serious funding to back them.

2. Keep children in school 

49% of the prison population were excluded from school as children**, compared with less than 1% of the current school population. Children who are excluded from school are more likely to be involved in criminal and anti-social behaviour, since they are more likely to socialise with older children already engaging in these activities. If children who are too difficult to manage in a classroom are sent home, they may actively try to be excluded, so instead they should kept on the school premises in a room separate to the classroom.

3. Give children somewhere to go

No matter where they live or how old they are, all children need a safe place to socialise and use their energy in positive ways.  Every city, town and village in the country should have youth centres and play areas that allow children to have fun and enjoy healthy emotional wellbeing. This will lead to higher self esteem, which in turn is the cornerstone of educational achievement and cohesive communities. 

*"A Chance for Change", Sainsbury's Centre for Mental Health, 2009

**'Family Ties and Recidivism', Home Office Research Bulletin 36

A stronger approach to early intervention needed from all political parties

 Early intervention children’s charity Chance UK criticised the approach of all three political parties to preventing crime as outlined in their election manifestos as not going far enough..

While all three manifestos contain positive ideas, none of them contain concrete commitments to fund projects that are proven to be effective at preventing children becoming engaged in criminal and anti-social behaviour later in life.

“As an early intervention charity, we would welcome Labour’s proposal to expand Family Nurse Partnerships and Family Intervention Projects, the Conservatives’ commitment to Sure Start and the Liberal Democrats pledge to scrap the new prison building scheme,” said Gracia McGrath O.B.E., the charity’s Chief Executive.  

“But if any of the parties are serious about reducing crime long term, they need to really back early intervention programmes. We need serious money to fund this work, and not just the odd bit of change that parties find down the back of the sofa.” 

“If we want to reduce crime, stop our descent into gang culture and end our shameful reputation for locking up more children than any other European country, then we need to act now. For every pound we spend on early intervention now, we save Pound10 in the future. If politicians only want to see this in a purely financial light, early intervention is still the answer.” 

Former Chance UK mentor challenges John Sergeant on live TV

Chance UK featured prominently on BBC's Question Time following the historic first debate between the leaders of the three main political parties.

John Sergeant was questioning the value of volunteers in delivering public services, when former Chance UK mentor Maria Ioannou spoke to deliver a passionate defence of the value of voluntary workers in vulnerable children's lives.

"I mentored a child who was in a school for disruptive pupils and had been failed by the teachers and welfare officers," Maria said in the live debate. "It took me as a volunteer to support to get back into mainstream school. I would challenge what John Sergeant said that people like me who are helping others are doing it to further their own needs. I didn't further my own needs in any way, I just helped that child for one year.”

You can still watch Maria's contribution on BBC iPlayer - just go to 31 mins in.

 

Mark Hix Joins The Underground Supper Club Movement for Chance UK

Mark Hix has joined forces with the underground food movement, The Friday Food Club to host a one off secret supper at the Friday Food Club located in a secret Blackheath home location.

Mark will be joining forces with Lee & Fiona Behan to host a one off dinner for 16 diners all in aid of early intervention children’s charity, Chance UK. The event will be hosted from Lee & Fiona’s home in Blackheath Village, London, providing a very intimate environment with the kitchen in arms reach of the diners.

Mark and Lee will be creating a magical menu to raise as much money as possible for the charity.

Tickets for this unique event will be sold by sealed auction, with the tickets going to those who bid the most.

So to place your bid of at least Pound100 per ticket, email emailing the bookings team at bookings@fridayfoodclub.com or visiting the website at www.fridayfoodclub.com.  There are just 16 tickets remaining, and a bid for all 16 will be accepted if it is higher than the top 16 individual bids.  

Join the Fear Factory coalition

Chance UK this week attended the launch of the Fear Factory movie at the Empire Cinema in London this week.

The film featured interviews with prominent politicians, criminologists and former inmates about the effectiveness of the current system in the UK, where a child as young as 10 can be sent to prison.

Cherie Blair, president of the English Commission on Prisons, asks why we are still sending so many people to prison, when only 30 per cent of prisoners do not return to serve a further jail term.

"A school that only gets 30 per cent of its pupils with five or more A-C GCSEs is branded as a failing school."

The Fear Factory coalition in mentioned in yesterday's Guardian article on the legacy of the James Bulger case in how we stereotype disturbed children.

Chance UK is one of 47 organisations nationwide who are part of the coalition, have decided to do something about the system, and lobby for change.

Watch this space for news on how you can get involved.

MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington attends graduation

Diane Abbott MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington attended the graduation ceremony for the children and mentors of Chance UK at Hackney Town Hall on Friday.

After the event Diane Abbott MP said: “It was great to see the children graduating and to hear how successful the mentoring year has been for them. It is so important to work with the children at such a young age to ensure they can bring about changes before the bad behaviour becomes anti-social or criminal behaviour. I really thing early intervention is the key and the reason the work of Chance UK is so successful.”

Chief Executive of Chance UK, Gracia McGrath OBE, said, “The children, mentors and the families were delighted that Diane was able to attend their graduation ceremony. From my perspective as Chief Executive of Chance UK I was delighted to talk to her and realise how well she understood and valued the impact of our work.”

Lambeth office officially opened

Chance UK officially opened their south London office in Brixton on Wednesday 21st October, at a ceremony attended by mentors, supporters and funders. 

The charity has been providing confidence-building mentors for primary school children with behavioural difficulties in Hackney and Islington for 14 years, and have are now officially offering the same service to children in the London Borough of Lambeth.

Cutting the ribbon to open the new project, Chance UK's Chief Executive, Gracia McGrath OBE, “I am hugely proud to be able to open our first south London project. This is the only the beginning of what Chance UK is going to provide for children in south London, which is mentors that change their education, improve their families’ relationships and ultimately, change the children’s lives.”

Senior Programme Manager for south London, Amanda Plummer, said, “It’s really exciting to know that our mentors are going to be inspiring the children who need them the most in Lambeth. Caroline Hopkins, who will be supporting all the mentors in Lambeth, and myself are both delighted to be part of such an exciting stage of Chance UK’s development.”

Chance UK won the Centre for Social Justice award for exceptional poverty fighting charities at an awards ceremony in central London last night.

The award was presented by Campbell Fleming of event sponsors JP Morgan, and it recognises “innovative and effective poverty fighters” across the UK, with over 335 organisations applying for the national awards programme. The award was accepted by Lucy Barrett, a volunteer mentor with Chance UK, and a Pound10,000 donation from JP Morgan was also awarded as part of the prize.  

CEO OF Chance UK, Gracia McGrath O.B.E., said "We are delighted to have won this prestigious award, and are grateful for the sponsorship from JP Morgan, which will help ensure that more children receive our crucial services. The award recognises the hard work of our board, staff and most importantly our volunteer mentors who are making such a difference to the lives of children in London and nationwide."

The Centre for Social Justice is a think-tank set up by former Conservative Party leader Iain Duncan Smith. Mr Duncan Smith said, “I would like to congratulate all the organisations who were nominated for this year’s awards. The CSJ Awards are a way to recognise and highlight the outstanding work of the country’s voluntary and faith-based organisations that have been pioneering solutions to the problems associated with our broken society.

“Every one of the organisations nominated for our awards are restoring hope to some of our country’s most disadvantaged communities. They work hard, with little or no money, recognition or support and yet they are overcoming the social challenges that have defeated the agencies of the state. Their efforts show that the war on poverty can be won.”

You can now watch a short film on Chance UK's work at the Centre for Social Justice website.

Staff and donors from Children in Need visited Chance UK this week to see firsthand how their donations are being spent.

Chance UK was recently honoured to receive Pound130,000 worth of funding from Children in Need till 2012, and were delighted to present our work to an audience including children's TV presenters Sam and Mark, as well as senior staff within Children and Need and the BBC.

Chief Executive of Chance UK , Gracia McGrath O.B.E., said, "We were delighted to welcome our guests from Children in Need, who have been great supporters of Chance UK over the last ten years. It was wonderful for our children and mentors to meet such kind donors in person, and even better to see the children showing everyone their mentoring year scrapbooks, and playing Monopoly with children's TV presenters!"

Four children and their mentors told the audience about the positive impact that the mentoring has had on their lives, and how much they get out of having a Chance UK mentor.

The visit concluded with the visit of the best Children in Need ambassador of all, Pudsey the Bear, who happily greeted guests posed for photos! 

Staff and supporters of Chance UK recently attended a prestigious reception at 10 Downing Street.

The event was hosted for Chance UK by our long time supporter Sarah Brown, as we launched the findings of their longitudinal study into the impact of their work with children.

Sarah Brown has been a supporter of Chance UK for the past five years, and we have been a direct beneficiary of her charity PiggyBank Kids.   Sarah is passionate about the work carried out by Chance UK and highlighted in a speech on the night that one of the greatest strengths of the charity is the fact that we are able to replicate our programme nationally. 

Chief Executive of Chance UK, Gracia McGrath said; “It is a very exciting time for the expansion of Chance UK. We now have six partnership projects running across the UK in Liverpool, Knowsley, Derry, Hemel Hempstead, Withernsea and Inverness. We have also just opened a Chance UK office in Lambeth, and look to open up in more London boroughs soon.  So we’re very excited that even more children are able to access our unique and effective mentoring service.”

The event was also attended by MPs, Council members, charity officials and supporters. They gathered to hear the findings of Goldsmith University’s report on the effectiveness of the mentoring scheme. The hugely impressive results cannot be argued with.  After passing through the Chance UK mentoring programme, 98% of children achieved a reduction in hyperactivity, emotional issues, conduct problems and problems with peers. They also saw an increase in their prosocial behaviour. This was assessed through Goodmans (1997) Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. 

Chance UK continues to call on people in London and nationwide to to volunteer their time and become a mentor to children with behavioural difficulties aged 5 – 11 years. Find out more about the difference that you can make. 

The research followed the progress of 100 children who had had mentors over the past five years, and evaluated the short term and long term impact of having a Chance UK mentor. 

The findings were extremely positive, showing a decrease in hyperactivity-inattention, emotional symptoms, conduct problems and peer problems for all children, with an increase in pro-social behaviour. Children also retained many of their improvements three to five years after the mentoring ended.

We believe this is proves how much impact mentors have with the children we work with, and how much difference you can make as a mentor with Chance UK.

You can download a copy of the full report, or read the executive summary below. Chance UK is greatly indebted to Peter Smith and Sharon Howard.

  Download full report (761 KB)

 

• More intensive work is needed to engage parents/carers during and after the mentoring process.
• A need exists to identify a wider range of services for the most vulnerable children post-graduation.
• A need exists to identify further cost-effective activities that children can continue with post-graduation.
• Further consideration could be given to effective cross-sex mentor-mentee matching.
• Funding could be sourced for ongoing retrospective follow-ups for children who complete the programme.

Funding withdrawal threatens Chance UK's work in Hackney

Chance UK has been featured in Charity Finance magazine as an exemplar of good practice in impact measurement. 

In the article, New Philanthropy Capital cites us as an example as  a shining example and includes a case study. “This is a good example  of an effective charity using the evidence for what it does to improve how it does it, and to increase the positive impact it can have on children’s lives,” says Martin Brookes, chief executive of New Philanthropy Capital.

Click here to read the full article

Chance UK is featured in today's Independent newspaper.

The full page article chronicles mentor Rob, Superintendent of Hackney CID, and 11-year-old Ollie from Islington.

Chance UK began working with the Metropolitan Police in London after it was approached by one of its former volunteer mentors, Mark Bird, who had just been appointed deputy police commander in Hackney. Today, the Centre for Social Justice, a think-tank set up by the former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith, will urge ministers to consider rolling out similar projects across the country.

Click here to read the full article on independent.co.uk

A new report from the Centre for Social Justice on gang culture was released today entitled "Dying to Belong".

The report was written by former Chance UK mentor Charlotte Pickles, and the CEO of Chance UK, Gracia McGrath, was also on the working group responsible for the report.

Click here to download the full policy report from the Gangs Working Group.

• Raise the profile of children’s and young people’s mentoring and
• befriending opportunities nationally.
• Increase the number of young people accessing mentoring services.
• Increase the number of volunteer mentors across the UK and ensure
• high level training.
• Develop a generic mentor training programme that all projects
• should adopt as a basis, with an option to add on project specific
• elements – this could be accredited.
• Provide for best practice sharing and networking.
• Create a shift in culture within communities around sharing ones
• own experiences and supporting another individual.
• Improve mentoring and befriending services for children and young
• people nationally.
• Generate clear evidence of what works through impact
• measurement.

The judging panel commented that Chance UK is 'an amazing service with excellent outcomes. It has obviously had a great affect on young people's lives'.

The criteria for the award was 'the initative or project that has intervened early and most effectively with children or young people at risk of problems such as homelessness, crime, substance misuse, poor health and of dropping out of education.

Here is Perry and Fabian's story:

Times Online journalist Robert Crampton has raised Pound1,000 for Chance UK via his sponsored diet.

Robert went on a diet primarily to lose some weight, but also to raise money for Chance UK. He is only disappointed he didn't raise more!

Read more about Robert's story here.

Chance UK appear in a half-page article in the Guardian's Education supplement today.

The article focuses on the success of the programme and how funding for such projects could be at risk.

It also hears from Chance UK mentor Catherine Landucci, and her positive experience of making a difference in a child's life.

Click here to read the full article.

Robert Crampton, a journalist and blogger for The Times, has decided to do a special solution-focused diet in aid of Chance UK.

Robert has been pledged Pound100 to a charity of his choice for every pound he loses, which will become Pound250 per pound if he reaches his target weight by the target date. Robert has chosen Chance UK as his beneficiary charity, meaning that he could raise up to Pound5,000.

To read more about Robert's challenge, click here.