Chance UK is delighted to announce a new social franchise with the Wolverhampton Improving Futures project after it was granted Big Lottery Funding this past week. The initiative will work with around 200 families living in the most deprived areas of Wolverhampton, helping parents to become more effective in their roles, using Chance UK’s early intervention model for those with children aged between 5 and 11.

Chance UK’s CEO, Gracia McGrath OBE’s guest appearance for the NPC blog was yesterday acknowledged by the Guardian newspaper in its regular ‘Best of the web’ feature, which rounds up the day’s best and most informative links from around the web.

Chance UK was delighted to welcome a delegation from The Hague earlier this week, in order for them to find out more about our innovative early intervention programme. The delegation, headed by the alderman responsible for welfare, culture and sports in the city of The Hague, the 3rd city of the Netherlands, met with representatives from Chance UK and were given a presentation on how our programme works, why it’s so successful and our exciting plans for the future.

Chance UK were proud to be acknowledged as Britain’s Most Innovative Charity at the prestigious Third Sectors awards held at Barclays UK headquarters in Canary Wharf.

Gracia McGrath, Chief Executive, said, ‘We have concentrated on our model. A lot of people have approached us and asked if we could also work with different age groups, but we wanted to put all our powers into improving the model we had. For a while, ‘specialism’ was a dirty word, but we ignored that. It allowed us to focus on who we weren’t getting to. Straying from its mission is the worst thing an organisation can do.’

Since 2006, the charity has been rolling out a franchise model across the UK, persuading other organisations to bid to help run its services. There are currently six local franchises, with partners including Action for Children, Women’s Aid and Child and Family Action, a small organisation in Yorkshire. Staff from Chance UK help to recruit and train mentors at partner organisations, but control of the projects is essentially handed over and they are locally funded.

The franchise model is just one way in which Chance UK has shown itself to be innovative. It has increased its recruitment of male volunteers – more than 50 per cent of its mentors are men. The charity has several volunteer police officers on its books and works closely with the police to identify children who could benefit from its services.

To keep up to date with all the latest from Chance UK, and its innovative work add us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter.

Working with schools and the police, Chance UK assesses children using a ‘strengths and difficulties’ questionnaire. Children with high scores are then assigned to volunteer mentors, who meet them once a week for a year. The results speak for themselves: 98 per cent of the children achieve an improvement in their behavioural difficulties after a year, and 50 per cent come out of the process with no behavioural difficulties at all.

Chance UK are proud to have been featured in the latest edition of the prestigious House Magazine, highlighting the need for early intervention and the importance of positive role models.

For over 30 years The House Magazine has earned the trust of parliamentarians from all parts of both Houses. It is the only political title that provides an impartial weekly read - and which offers MPs and peers the chance to write articles about the issues they want to see raised.

Regular features allow the opportunity for in-depth coverage on key policy issues providing a valuable resource for understanding and influencing the debate. The magazine is seen both as an indispensable guide and integral part of Westminster life and is independently identified as the most read weekly publication within the Palace of Westminster. 

To read the Chance UK article in full, just click here.

The CSJ’s new report on the need for early intervention has recently been released, entitled ‘No Excuses: A review of educational exclusion’.  The report exposes the extent to which some children feel unsafe in schools, and the impact of gang culture on their behaviour and education.

Chance UK would like to say a huge thank you to everyone who has donated following our recent BBC Radio 4 appeal, which has now raised Pound9,193.10. We are delighted to be still receiving donations and we’re hoping to reach Pound10,000 from the appeal to invest in our early intervention mentoring programme.

We believe that the success of this appeal was mainly due to the fantastic case study presented by Christopher Eccleston. There have already been 213 individual donations made, with each one gratefully received.

Our appeal was broadcast to a combined audience to over 1.9 million listeners and as well as donations, has also secured numerous volunteer enquiries and media articles.

So thank you to the BBC Radio 4 listeners for your generosity and interest.

You can still listen to Chance UK's BBC Radio 4 appeal by clicking here or go to our donations page here.

Chance UK has been awarded a BBC Radio 4 Appeal, which is scheduled to be broadcast this weekend - Sunday 4th September at 7.55am & 9.26pm.

Last month our CEO, Gracia McGrath OBE, had the opportunity to meet popular TV and film actor Christopher Eccleston at BBC Broadcasting House for the recording of our appeal in the BBC studios.

Chance UK organised its own Mini Olympics as one of its group sessions on a sunny Saturday morning in Hyde Park. Eight children with their mentors took up the challenge of a tricky aerobics routine as a warm up to then compete in a circuit training of, hopefully soon to be introduced, new Olympic sports: Hula hoop, skipping, softball, tennis and throwing juggling balls into a target. The children and mentors kept persevering and trying to beat their own scores and learned to encourage each other, it was a lot of fun!

Gracia McGrath OBE, chief executive of early intervention charity Chance UK, offers her perspective on the riots that had spread across England recently.

A Chance UK mentor, Lisa Watch, has been featured on the BBC World Tonight Program on Radio 4, discussing the recent London riots and explaining her experiences of early intervention and how it could prevent a similar situation happening again.

The Chief Executive of Chance UK, Gracia McGrath OBE, spoke on Ukrainian TV on the 14th of August about the recent London riots, and the impact that Chance UK has had on the children they have worked with.

This year’s Third Sector magazine's annual awards, Britain’s Most Admired Charities, has now been shortlisted, with Chance UK down to the final 6 for the prestigious category of Britain’s Most Innovative Charity.

The awards were launched in 2004 and are now one of the high points of the voluntary sector calendar. They celebrate the achievements of the sector in the company of more than 150 senior colleagues and charity supporters, with the winners of each category being chosen by chief executives working in charities, voluntary organisations and social enterprises.

Chance UK’s nomination reads as follows:

“I have been really impressed by the work of Chance UK, a mentoring charity which targets 5-11 year olds who get into trouble before they end up in the criminal justice system. It really gets to the root of problems. It has recruited Met police officers are mentors, and now is rolling its wonderful programme out across Britain, managing in the process to be held in equally high esteem by Sarah Brown and Iain Duncan Smith – no mean feat, but vital in this age.”

So if you’re a chief executive of a charity, voluntary organisation or social enterprise vote for Chance UK now to highlight mentoring as an innovative form of intervention, just follow the link and you'll be asked to vote in each of the four categories, with the Most Innovative Charity category the third one in.

The Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) launched its new publication Making Sense of Early Intervention: a guide for professionals, on Thursday 7 July 2011, where Chance UK's CEO, Gracia McGrath OBE was invited to speak to the public and answer their questions.

Gracia was joined on the panel by the Rt Hon Iain Duncan Smith MP, speaking in his capacity as Chairman of the Government’s Social Justice Cabinet Committee, Chris Robinson, CEO of the Mayor’s Fund for London, and Thanos Morphitis, Director of Strategy and Commissioning at Islington Children’s Services.

There have been a wealth of reports released on early intervention lately. The Centre for Social Justice report is called, 'Making sense of early intervention' – is it about making sense of what is out there and in a way going back to basics?

It absolutely is. It is a kind of idiot's guide for local authorities, although I am sure they won't appreciate me using that term. When you have a wealth of material looking at the theory and the theoretical approaches, you also need to come up with a practical approach.

So we have the theory and the dense research, and here is how you put it into practice. So I think 'Making sense of early intervention' is the natural next step and, for local authorities, it could be their working guide.

I know some local authorities have taken the Allen review's 19 models for early intervention as completely prescriptive. The report says to look beyond specific programmes to an overall approach: do local authorities need to look at their area and see what works for their community?

What I would say in terms of the 19 models is that many of those don't exist in this country as of yet; they have been tried and tested elsewhere. Now the thing about that is that they would still need to be tried and tested in this country.

So let's say you have a model, say the model that we have here at Chance UK. When we exported that to Liverpool which was our first social franchise, we needed to know that it actually worked in Liverpool. We needed to have a pilot with our partner agency Action for Children, to see if it translated well in the area.

If you are talking about needing to do that from one inner city to another, you need to times-that by 1000 when you are talking about bringing something across the Atlantic. There are big cultural differences and they still need to be tried and tested.

I think Iain Duncan Smith's message at the launch of the CSJ report yesterday was incredibly clear. It was that there are those 19 programmes, but they are not the be all and end all of what is there. Look around and see what is already operating both in your area and similar areas to your own, that are getting results, and look at whether they might be the most appropriate thing to import to your area.

You spoke about Chance UK's work with Action for Children. The report talks about a multi-agency approach – how important is partnership-working in driving early intervention forward?

Partnership work is essential – local authorities, charities big and small and education departments all working together in the interests of the child. The only way that we are really going to make a difference is if people look at the child as the focus, not their agency as the focus, and work together for the best benefits of the child.

There are some great examples of this out there. What you will see when you have proper partnership work is you get a better outcome for that child.

Let's not forget safeguarding boards were set up so that children didn't slip through the net, and a key part of the boards was that they were multi-agency.

So for the safety of children and to create positive outcomes for children, all of these services need to take a multi-agency approach.

In recent reports there has been a real focus on the early years. Chance UK doesn't focus on early years; do you think it needs to be drummed home that early intervention is the whole package, from minus 9 months to 18 years?

Absolutely, we don't negate that early years are incredibly important; all the evidence points towards the importance of bonding in those first few years, and the importance of brain growth.

Those things are very real and we do need to work with those families when we can get them, when they need it at that time.

However, there are some families who, even if they need that support at that time, do not come to the attention of the authorities in those early years. Firstly, for those who have had a difficult start in life, they are not called hard-to-reach families for no reason. When the children of those families start school, it might be the first time agencies have been able to have access to that child, to look at how that child is functioning and to offer additional support to that child. That is one aspect of it.

The second aspect of it is about responding to a crisis when it happens, and this could happen at any point in a child's life. The families hit a crisis, it might be divorce, it might be death or it might be abandonment. When that happens the whole family is dealing with it, and somehow the children get lost within it and become in need of additional support.

There are those child-centred changes as well, when a child moves from primary school, they might function well in the primary school setting, but struggle after making the move to a large secondary school. That transition, although Chance UK doesn't work in this field, we recognise it is a really important area in terms of supporting children. Those children who get lost at transition need support at that point. They might have had the best start in life but they get lost when they go through the transition phase.

The same can be said about going through puberty, and God help the poor child if both happen at once.

Some children cope well with that, and just get a bit moody and slam some doors, but for some children it can be a critical and quite dangerous stage for them. They desperately need support at the right time, to be able to function and not go off the rails. So from any point from minus 9 months to 18 years, when the crisis first shows itself, that is when you need to deal with it. Unfortunately, sometimes the right people aren't there when the crisis first shows itself.

In terms of funding, do you see the social investment model as the way forward and has Chance UK started to develop this as a source of funding?

The social investment model is something that Chance UK has been working on for quite some time.

We are still quite a small organisation and we have both individual philanthropists and philanthropic trusts that donate to us. There has been a real interest from them to invest in an organisation, and particularly to invest in an organisation like Chance UK, who can save money for the country and help children have a happy childhood.

Chance UK might find it difficult to engage with the wider sense of the social investment model, where we are talking about payment by results. As a relatively small organisation we wouldn't be able to completely say upfront, we will provide the service and if it is a success, you will pay us.

However, there is an in-between model which is about people providing the services and if they meet their target, they get a bonus. This is a sort of 'semi' payment by results.

As an example, if Chance UK was working to prevent a number of children going to a Pupil Referral Unit (PRU), and we said we could prevent 18 out of 20 children from going to the unit, yet we prevent all 20 going to the unit, we get a bonus.

The local authority has still saved money because our service costs less than a third than it would to send the child to the PRU.

All the reports that have come out have drawn consistent conclusions: must the government now listen?

I think they have to listen, and I think what came out very clearly from Duncan Smith's speech at the report launch yesterday, was that he really believes that the government is listening. Through his chairing of social justice committee, there is a focus on social justice, which cuts across government. And I believe that they are committed to early intervention.

So therefore this model of working early, working right at the time when the difficulties start to show themselves, will become a non-party political approach to how government works, and we would all be a lot better off for it.

Chance UK is an early-intervention charity that reduces crime and anti-social behaviour through one-to-one mentoring with children aged 5-11. Gracia McGrath spoke at the report launch of 'Making sense of early intervention'.

Rt Hon Iain Duncan Smith MP will also speak

The Chief Executive of Chance UK, Gracia McGrath OBE, is to speak at the "What next for early intervention? Early Intervention Practice for 5-18 year olds" conference on Thursday 7th July at London's City Hall, with Rt Hon Iain Duncan Smith MP, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions.

The other speakers at the event will be Thanos Morphitis, the Director of Strategy and Commissioning at Islington Children's Services, Chris Robinson, the CEO of the Mayor's Fund for London, and Gavin Poole, Centre for Social Justice Executive Director.

The conference will be attended by a variety of local authority commissioners, policy researchers in Parliament, the media, local authorities, think tanks, charities and social enterprises.

If you would like to register your place at the conference, visit csjearlyintervention.eventbrite.com.

Celebrities back inspiring campaign

Simon Cowell, Rod Stewart, Pixie Lott and Paul O'Grady are among the stars that have pledged their support to Daybreak’s Donate a Day initiative launching on Monday 23rd May 2011. 

The fully interactive initiative will encourage viewers young and old to pledge their time to help a worthy cause or those in need. As well as volunteering for Chance UK, one of the 20 featured charities, viewers are encouraged to do a neighbour’s shopping, transform a piece of waste ground, decorate a community centre or simply offer an elderly person some company.  

And - as part of the initiative viewers will see Adrian Chles, Christine Bleakley, and other members of the Daybreak presenting team donate their time over the course of the week for various causes. 

Adrian will return to Birmingham to spend the day with Age UK, Christine will visit the Teenage Cancer Trust in Cardiff and Dr Hilary will spend the day at a hospice in Exeter. 

Stars of Emmerdale and Loose Women will also be donating their time across the week as part of the initiative.

Christine Bleakley said: “Time is precious and in today’s busy world it’s easy to lose track of what ‘s important around us. Family, friends, the local community and charitable causes could all benefit from a few hours of our time. Daybreak is launching Donate a Day to encourage you to give up a little bit of time to make a big difference.

Simon Cowell said: “I’m urging you lot to support Daybreak’s Donate a Day for Children’s Hospices.  It will change your life, it will change their lives and I promise you, you won’t regret it.” He continued, “How important is volunteering?  It’s a day of your life and I promise you, you will not regret it.”

Paul O'Grady said:  “Donate a Day is a brilliant idea because its aim is to encourage people all over the UK just to give a bit of their time to help someone. So please, whatever you can do, it’ll make a difference to people’s lives. I am supporting Donate a Day, why don’t you?”

Chartered surveyors to raise money Chance UK 

Belleveue Mortlakes Charity 7-A-Side Football Tournament will be held on Thursday 23rd June at the Walker Ground in Southgate.

Michael, Adam and the rest of the team have registered teams from 36 companies, including Lloyds TSB, Santander, HSBC, Nationwide, Bank of Cyprus, Barclays Capital, NatWest/RBS, Marfin Laiki Bank and Mizrahi Tefahot Bank. There will also be over 300 spectators.

Michael Yianni, Managing Director of Bellevue Mortlakes, said, "We will have a star studded team of ex-Premiership, mainly ex-Arsenal and ex-Spurs players taking part. A team of MPs, captained by our local MP for Enfield Southgate, David Burrowes, will also be participating. We thank him and everyone taking part for all their hard work, time and passionate commitment to raising money for such a worthwhile cause as Chance UK."

There will also be a separate mini-league of children’s teams, entered broadly by charities that support disadvantaged children. Some of these teams are supported by the local Premiership Football Clubs and others are completing the Duke of Edinburgh Award.

Visit the Bellevue Mortlakes website for more information on the event.

Mayor of Islington supports Chance UK children

Chance UK children and their mentors have met the Mayor of Islington to find out about the role of a mayor and to learn the history and ceremony of the role.

The group mentoring session, which aims to help children socialise positively with other children as well as providing an educational activity, gave the children to chance to try on the robes, hold the ceremonial mace and even have a vote in the Council Chambers.  

Many of the children Chance work with behave in negative ways whilst in groups and therefore this situation offers the mentors an opportunity to work to improve this behaviour.    

Chance UK is extremely grateful to Councillor Mouna Hamitouche (Mayor of Islington), Councillor Catherine West (Leader of the Council), and Councillor Richard Watts (Executive Member for Children's Services) for attending the session and speaking to the children about their work.                       

Secret Supper Club a huge success

The Friday Food Club raised a fantastic Pound7,500 for Chance UK with its recent Big Secret Supper.

The event featured the classically trained chef Lee Behan teamed up with Celebrity Masterchef 2010 winner Lisa Faulkner and pupils from the John Roan school in Blackheath cooking a special five course meal for 100 lucky guests.

The team also raffled off their service to cook an intimate meal for a guest with eight friends in their own home, specially cooked by Lee, Lisa and Dhruv Barker. 

Chief Executive of Chance UK, Gracia McGrath OBE said, "We are over the moon and hugely grateful that Lee and his team were able to raise such a fantastic amount for Chance UK. The entertainment was top class, and I hope everyone enjoyed what was a unique and wonderful evening."

Lee from Friday Food Club said, "We are really pleased to be able to raise Pound7,500, and hope this is just the start of what we can do to support such a worthwhile cause."

Chance UK campaign spreads to Spain

Chance UK’s Big Influence campaign has spread throughout Europe, with a Catalan version being run by Barcelona-based mentoring organisation Punt de Referencia (Reference Point).

Reference Point has worked closely with Chance UK over the last 6 years as part of a network of European Mentoring and Befriending organisations. 

Chief Executive of Chance UK, Gracia McGrath O.B.E. said, “We are delighted that our Big Influence campaign has inspired other organisations to start their own campaign. It gives people the chance to discuss the importance of having a positive role model while growing up, and share their memories of the people who inspired them the most. We will certainly be giving the support the campaign deserves, once we have brushed up on our Catalan skills!”

Underground eating supremos the Friday Food Club will be holding an exclusive meal to raise Pound5,000 for Chance UK on Saturday 29th January 2011

The fantastic kitchen line up will consist of New Zealand Chef of the Year Anna Hansen, Masterchef Champion 2010 Lisa Faulkner, ITV This Morning regular and owner of the fabulous Beehive Bakery Stacie Stewart, foodie magazine editor, Karen Barnes from Delicious!, and the founder of the Sunday lunchtime supper club The Old Hat Club, the very talented Tim Scorer.

Chris Coghill (Shameless, Eastenders) will create a welcome cocktail for guests, while Emily Baker will be providing musical entertainment.

Raffle prizes include Dhruv Baker (Masterchef 2010), Lisa Faulkner (Celebrity Masterchef 2010) & The Friday Food Club Chef Lee Behan putting themselves up for auction, to bring the Friday Food Club into one lucky guests’ home.

Chief Executive of Chance UK, Gracia McGrath OBE, said, “We are delighted that Lee and the team have decided to support Chance UK in this way. The event and the auction prizes are so sought after that I am not surprised it sold out so quickly. We’re incredibly grateful to everyone lending their support to the event, and can say that the money they raise will make a real difference to children who need it the most.”

Advertisement for IT upgrade

Chance UK is a national charity that aims to reduce youth crime and anti-social behaviour across the UK.

We do this by providing one-to-one mentoring for children aged 5-11 with behavioural difficulties. Our volunteer mentors raise children's self esteem via activities such as sports, visiting museums, making scrapbooks...anything the child may be interested in.

We are dependent on our IT systems to support our staff and volunteers, and also as an important part of ensuring that our work is delivered in a cost effective way.

After many years of hard use, our technology is now showing signs of age and some elements are in need of replacement.

We have recently looked at the way we work and have decided that in addition we need to make changes to the way we manage our information. We need a strategy that will provide improved access to our information, improved accuracy of information, greater compliance with legislation and that will continue to support our work as we grow in size and scope.

We also need to improve the security with which we store, access and share our information.  Chance UK holds personal and sensitive information and it is important that we store, access it and share it securely. It is important that any new IT systems support this requirement.

Anyone or any company that is interested in providing services or equipment in response to this advertisement should request further information from:

Matt Collins
Training and Communications Manager

email: matt.collins@chanceuk.com 

Tel: 020 7281 5858 ext.214

Antal CEO backs Chance UK 

The CEO of Antal International, Tony Goodwin, has spoken to The Times newspaper to tell them why he backs our work.

Antal has donated around Pound7,000 to Chance UK in the last year, with more to come when the royalties from Tony's upcoming book are also donated to Chance UK.

Tony is a successful leader in business as CEO of an international recruitment company. Tony said, “Altruism has to be part of the leadership challenge. If you have reaped all the advantages of success, then you have an obligation to put something back."

Talking about the importance for such support to change the lives of children, Chief Executive of Chance UK, Gracia McGrath OBE, said,  “When we ask the little ones what they want to be when they grow up, they don’t answer the question. Having a career has simply never occurred to them, and that's why Tony Goodwin's generous support means so much to Chance UK."

Antal’s high profile in business circles will bring other benefits to Chance UK, such as encouraging other businesses to take Chance UK seriously.

Read the full article on The TImes website, "When altruism is the leadership challenge".

Richard Godwin tells his mentoring story

The Evening Standard featured a two page spread on Chance UK, written by former Chance UK mentor Richard Godwin about his year with 10-year-old Thomas.

Richard recently graduated from the Chance UK mentor programme, and the article outlines the highs and lows as a Chance UK mentor.

Richard writes about the time they went on the London Eye together:

"As we rose up in the pod, saw the city stretch out gradually underneath us, I tried to convey to Thomas that this place was his as much as anyone else's. “There's nothing you can't do,” I told him, desperate that he grasp his potential.

Click here to read the article in full.

Award comprises funding and development support

The Bank of America Charitable Foundation has made children’s charity Chance UK a winner of of its fourth annual Neighbourhood Excellence Initiative (NEI) Awards, at a ceremony held at Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s City offices on 30 November. 

Through this programme, Bank of America Merrill Lynch recognises two charitable organisations who are helping to improve their local communities. Since 2007, the company has committed more than Pound1.7m in NEI awards to support the local London community.

“Through our Neighbourhood Excellence Initiative, we are helping to generate meaningful and cumulative economic and social impact at the local level where it’s needed most,” said Jonathan Moulds, president, Europe at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. “In today’s tough times, communities need our support more than ever. This programme is designed to give that support through the effective combination of partnership, leadership development and flexible funding.”

The initiative continues to help some of London’s best charities improve their long-term viability and bolster leadership strength, retain and hire new staff, and extend the depth and reach of their services – capabilities that are integral to community revitalisation and critical in the current economy when charity funding is down and demand for services is up.

The Mayor of London Boris Johnson said: “The army of volunteers who dedicate their time to putting something back into their communities are the unsung heroes of the capital. The NEI awards are a great way of championing their efforts. It’s fantastic to see that even in these difficult times, so many individuals and organisations are still committed to helping others, and I congratulate all of this year’s winners.”

Chief Executive of Chance UK, Gracia McGrath OBE, said, “We are delighted to receive this award. The funding element will help Chance UK transform the lives of even more children in London. As innovators of volunteer-based social action Chance UK is delivering the critical Big Society agenda, and we are thrilled to have Bank of America Merrill Lynch as our supporters.”

Metropolitan Police Commissioner supports Chance UK's Big Influence Campaign

The Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, Sir Paul Stephenson, has told Chance UK’s ‘Big Influence’ campaign that his late brother was his big influence growing up. Sir Paul made an exclusive video for the children’s charity to support the campaign.  â€¨â€¨

The ‘Big Influence’ campaign aims to promote the positive impact that adults had in the lives of public figures when they were young, and encourage people to become that positive influence for today’s children.



Sir Paul said, “Michael was my mentor and my guardian. He sadly passed away a few years ago, and I miss him enormously. I was a very fortunate guy, because I had a goodly number of people that were able to assist me, encourage me and help me identify what I wanted to do in life.”

“I think it’s hugely important for children to have big influences, because we all need someone in life to help us identify goals and the skills and attributes that we all need to achieve those goals. The feeling of achievement is important to all of us, and it’s certainly important to children. It encourages them to do better all the time, and that’s what we all want to do; maximise our potential and do our best.”


Not all children have such positive influences. That is why Chance UK is launching the Big Influence campaign to provide a positive influence for children who are lacking in positive role models. Their volunteer mentors inspire and encourage a child with behavioural difficulties for one year, helping them to make friends and realise their potential.



Other celebrities backing the innovative campaign  include celebrity chef Jamie Oliver, musician Nick Jonas and comedienne Jo Brand have thrown their weight behind the campaign, and spoken about the impact that a positive role model had on them when they were growing up. 

 “At Chance UK, we know how important a positive role model can be for a child, and we are delighted that Sir Paul Stephenson has thrown his weight behind our campaign," said Chance UK’s Chief Executive Gracia McGrath OBE. "No one understands more than the police how vulnerable young children can be to a life of crime without strong role models. Sir Paul Stephenson is urging others to be a big influence in the life of a child, and they can do just that by becoming a mentor for Chance UK.”

To see the videos by the above celebrities and others including broadcaster Paul Gambaccini, Celebrity Masterchef winner Lisa Faulkner and actress Angela Griffin, go to www.biginfluence.co.uk.

Celebrities team up to back Chance UK

Nick Jonas, actor and singer with The Jonas Brothers, says he owes his success to his father.

Jonas is one of a group of stars of TV, music and theatre teaming up to speak about who influenced them as a child in support of children’s charity Chance UK’s Big Influence campaign which begins on Monday 18th October. The campaign aims to highlight the positive impact that adults had in the lives of the celebrities when they were young, and to encourage people to become that positive influence for today’s children. 

Nick Jonas told Chance UK about the impact on his life of having a strong role model when he was growing up. “He’s a musician himself, and raised us in a musical home. He also raised us with good values that helped us in our career and in our journeys so far in life.”

Not all children are so fortunate. That is why Chance UK is launching the Big Influence campaign. It aims to find volunteers to help children who are lacking in positive role models. Each volunteer mentor inspires and encourages a child with behavioural difficulties for one year, helping them to make friends and realise their potential.

Other celebrities, including celebrity chef Jamie Oliver, comedienne Jo Brand and broadcaster Paul Gambaccini, have thrown their weight behind the campaign, and spoken about the impact that a positive role model had on them when they were growing up. 

“At Chance UK, we know how important a positive role model can be for a child, and what a big difference it has made to these celebrities," said Chance UK’s Chief Executive Gracia McGrath OBE. "They are urging others to be a big influence in the life of a child, and they can do just that by becoming a mentor for Chance UK.”

To see the videos by the above celebrities and others, including the opera singer Toby Spence, Celebrity Masterchef winner Lisa Faulkner and actress Angela Griffin, go to www.biginfluence.co.uk.

• Full list of contributors to the Big Influence campaign: Nick Jonas (musician), Jamie Oliver (celebrity chef), Jo Brand (comedienne), Paloma Faith (singer), Lisa Faulkner (actress, winner of Celebrity Masterchef 2010), Paul Gambaccini (broadcaster), Angela Griffin (actress), Toby Spence (opera singer), Martin Ball (actor), Nicola Stevenson (actress), Norm Lewis (actor/performer), Polly Morgan (artist), Lucie Jones (actress).

Chance UK speaks from Conservative Party Conference

Gracia McGrath OBE, Chief Executive of Chance UK, speaks to ePolitix.com from the Conservative Party conference.

She spoke about the importance of early intervention, and the Big Society. 

Read her interview below, or go to ePolitix. 

Why are you here at conference?

I thought it was really important to come to conference this year because I think we have a unique opportunity to be listened to. I think that politicians are in a state of flux; the coalition government is new to them, as it is to us. People are willing to listen and hear your ideas; whether they are taking them on board or not, they are willing to listen.

So I felt it was vital to come and talk about the things that are really important to us at Chance UK – namely early intervention.

I am really pleased to hear everybody talking about early intervention, around drug and alcohol issues, around crime and all of those social issues that will end up costing us a hell of a lot of money in the future. People are talking about investing in early intervention and prevention.

One of the other things that I really want to talk to people about at conference is the cost-effective model of going into partnership; voluntary sector organisations both big and small, like Action for Children and Chance UK using their separate expertise to work together – the partnership model that we have had for the best part of the UK, which is about to grow.

So you are an advocate of the Big Society?

We are the Big Society!

It has been a really interesting conversation. People are asking what the Big Society means. I think if the voluntary sector doesn't engage and say 'this is what the Big Society is', then it will just be a meaningless phrase that has been made up by party PR gurus.

The truth is we are here to put the meat on the bones. We are here to say, how could you get any more 'Big Society' than adults who work in a whole range of sectors, who volunteer to work with a child for a year, and see them every week and bring about a change in their life? That is the Big Society.

So I'm an advocate of the Big Society – because we have been doing it for 15 years. The other advantage of being here is that we can say to people, "actually this is what it means".

What are you doing whilst you are here?

A mixture of things. I am an adviser on youth justice for the Centre for Social Justice, so we have had a number of meetings here.

I am going to fringes, asking questions, talking to people, generally networking. I am listening to speeches, and then sitting down and working out what it means for us. I think generally that it is about being better informed, as well as informing other people.

Is it just the Conservative Party conference that you have come to?

It is – this will be the first time I have ever been to a party conference.

We are a very small organisation with very small resources – it is quite expensive to come to conference.

My feeling about Labour Party conference was that it wasn't the time – the focus was going to be, as it needed to be, on who the new leader would be, and then the jockeying for position as to who the new ministers were going to be.

We need to start talking to the Labour Party, once they have decided who the new ministers are going to be. We don't have the funds to actually go out and do a bit of pitch just in case this person happens to be the person who you might need to have a relationship with in the future.

What I have been impressed with, and will probably make me return in the future, is the fact that it is a unique opportunity to bump into people who sometimes don't answer their phone, or have a whole series of private secretaries between you and them.

If you bump into them at conference, they have to be nice to you.

You have to come here and be bold, and you have to come here and know what you want to say. Also you have to be open-minded enough to listen and take on other people's ideas, and use this as a platform for new creative thinking.

Moving on from conference, what is next for Chance UK?

Obviously the comprehensive spending review is very critical for everybody. From 21st October we will know whether we are an organisation on the verge of growth – is there going to be money because of all this talk of early intervention? If that is that case, we are ready for that.

I think that would be a vital chance we would welcome, and we have prepared ourselves for that.

The other aspect is the growth for us in terms of partnerships, looking at our existing partnerships, making deals with new partners, and looking at how we can provide services in the most cost-effective way.

We are in an age of austerity, and being solution-focused about that quite often makes people creative, and people are willing to listen to those creative thoughts. If we can be creative, we can provide specialist services cheaper and more effectively. We will help people do that – and we will help people learn from what we have learnt. They don't need to recreate the wheel; we have some experience of that and we are happy to help others.

"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.