WIREDGOV

Around 6,000 young people will be mentored by Mosaic this year – a charity which has won a Big Society Award today from Prime Minister David Cameron for its achievements across five UK regions, bridging the gap between aspiration and achievement for young people.

The charity, founded by HRH The Prince of Wales in 2007, uses mentoring programmes to link young people growing up in some of the most deprived communities with inspirational role models to boost their confidence and long-term employability. Mosaic’s mentors are volunteers and are primarily from Muslim backgrounds, communities that are traditionally under-represented in formal volunteering.

In 2013 to 14, Mosaic will increase its reach to 6,000 young people in 150 schools and prisons with the support of some 1,100 active volunteer mentors. Mosaic’s programmes have been independently evaluated by Demos and have shown:

• 10% improvement in likelihood of mentees wanting to go to university
• 17% increase in likelihood of mentees gaining a university place
• 10% increase in mentees’ views that they would be happier in 12 months time
• a noticeable shift post-programme in those with poor initial views about school

Prime Minister David Cameron said:

I am a huge believer in the benefits of mentoring. Mosaic does impressive work by offering mentoring to young people in some of the most deprived areas of the country, while boosting and encouraging volunteering at the same time.

A large proportion of their volunteers are taking up volunteering for the first time, showing that Mosaic is driving real and lasting change.

Khawar Mann, Chairman of Mosaic, said:

We are so proud to have been recognised by the Prime Minister and the Big Society Awards for the work our volunteer mentors do with young, disadvantaged people. Mosaic has been training and providing mentors to primary and secondary schools for almost 6 years, and we are now beginning to see a groundswell of understanding and recognition regarding the power of mentoring.

This award from the Big Society acknowledges not only the relevance and quality of the work Mosaic does with young people from some of the country’s most deprived communities, but also the relevance and importance of the role of mentoring as a whole.

Founded in 2007, Mosaic is an initiative of Business in the Community (BITC) overseen by The Prince’s Charities. Mosaic now operates in the most deprived communities in five UK regions: London, West Midlands, Yorkshire, North West and South East. It was nominated for today’s award by BBC News journalist and newsreader Mishal Husain, who has championed and supported Mosaic’s work since its formation.

In the academic year 2012 to 13 Mosaic has:

• supported 5,000 young people from across the country
• involved 150 schools and other institutions in their mentoring programmes
• worked with over 900 volunteers
• touched the lives of many young people - 83% of these beneficiaries were drawn from the most deprived areas of the country and with significant ethnic minority communities

Mosaic delivers 4 unique mentoring programmes:

• young girls and their mothers in Mosaic’s primary school programme are mentored to pursue their education and consider the careers available to them
• the mentoring scheme for secondary school students is tailored to their needs and includes group mentoring, workplace visits, inspirational speeches and competitions to promote entrepreneurship
• the Apax-Mosaic Enterprise Challenge is a national competition for secondary school students designed to develop and encourage their entrepreneurial skills
• for young ex-offenders, one-to-one mentoring supports those making the transition from prison back to their communities, coupled with access to employability programmes

Notes to editors

About Mosaic

Founded by HRH The Prince of Wales in 2007, Mosaic’s mentoring programmes create opportunities for young people growing up in our most deprived communities. Mosaic’s programmes are delivered by volunteers and lift the aspirations of young people and close the gap between those aspirations and their attainment. By linking young people with inspirational role models in this way, Mosaic boosts their confidence, self-efficacy and long-term employability. Mosaic is an initiative of Business in the Community (BITC), part of the family of charities overseen by The Prince’s Charities, the largest multi-cause charitable enterprise in the United Kingdom. Mosaic is overseen by a national Advisory Board and each of the regions in which it operates benefits from the direction of a Regional Leadership Group.

In April this year, Mosaic was awarded the Approved Provider Quality Standard (APS) from the Mentoring and Befriending Foundation, which is the quality standard for mentoring and befriending projects.

Mosaic provides recognition for their mentors and supporters through their monthly Mosaic Heroes nomination process, which culminates in the annual HRH Princess Badiya Mentor of the Year Award.

www.mosaicnetwork.co.uk
Twitter: @mosaicnetwork

For media enquiries for Mosaic please contact Mosaic’s National Director jonathan.freeman@bitc.org.uk 07931 534766 or PR Manager rachael.billington@marketingmgr.co.uk who can also be reached on telephone 0776 6611025.

About Business in the Community

Business in the Community stands for responsible business. It is a unique business movement of 850 member companies - the largest business-led charity of its kind - committed to building resilient communities, diverse workplaces and a more sustainable future. We work locally, nationally and internationally with members to transform businesses and transform communities. We believe that responsible leadership is the ability to balance doing both.

We ask our members to work with us on specific campaigns that make a difference in the workplace, marketplace and community. And we offer a range of services that challenge, support and inspire members and help transform their businesses.

Business in the Community is one of The Prince’s Charities, a group of not-for-profit organisations of which The Prince of Wales is President.

The Big Society Awards

The Big Society Awards were set up by the Prime Minister in November 2010. The aim is to acknowledge individuals and organisations across the UK that demonstrates the Big Society in their work or activities. In so doing, the aim is also to galvanise others to follow.

The award focuses upon three specific areas:

Outstanding contribution to community

• People, projects and organisations that enable communities to drive change themselves
• Projects and organisations that allow the community to identify solutions
• People, projects and organisations that inspire others to contribute to their community

Improving lives and society through innovation, collaboration and new partnerships

• People and organisations taking new approaches to public services
• Successful collaboration and partnerships between public, private and voluntary sector - working together to benefit communities

Engaging in social action

• People, projects and organisations taking action in their community
• Working together for social change (eg through creating groups, campaigns, movements)
• Generosity of time, money, skills and other resources – in support of social action

Launching the awards, the Prime Minister said:

There are some amazing projects and remarkable voluntary work going on in towns and cities up and down the country, by all kinds of organisations from large enterprises to tiny grassroots schemes and inspirational individuals.

These awards are a chance to pay tribute to those making a valuable contribution to their community, the real champions of the Big Society, but perhaps more importantly, I hope they will motivate many others to take action, get involved and drive change in their area.

Nominations come in from the general public after which there follows a process of scoring and short-listing by civil servants and a further short-listing by a panel of ministers and independent external experts. This Panel makes recommendations to the Prime Minister who makes the final decisions about who to make the award to. Twelve winners are decided each quarter meeting and then announced once a week throughout the year.

Over 80 winners have been announced to date, including:

• Loughborough Student Action uses the community volunteering section of the Students’ Union, has allowed a huge number of students to improve their community in many different and exciting ways.
• Nightstop North East provides emergency accommodation for young people aged 16 to 25 who are at risk of becoming homeless or who are homeless, in the homes of trained volunteer hosts.

For a full list of winners visit the Big Society Awards website.