Leadership

The Rank Memorial Award 2018

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The Rank Memorial Award was established in 2010 to commemorate our former Chairman, Mr. Fred Packard. The aim of the Memorial Award is to create an opportunity to travel and explore a specific area of personal interest, relating to our work that will serve to inspire, educate or promote the interests, values or ethos of the Foundation. Here is a brief summary of two of the 2017 winners and their plans:

The 2018 programme is now open and available to anybody associated with the Rank Foundation and RankNet, through our range of initiatives and programmes. There will be one award of £8,000 – we might share this depending on circumstances. Applicants must be 18+ to apply with no upper age limit.

We are looking support an individual who has designed their own programme of learning around one of the Foundation’s key areas of interest: leadership or enterprise.

The successful programme is likely to include an element of working in an outside agency, preferably abroad. The initiative must be entirely of the applicant’s own choosing and design: this might include someone wishing to take a sabbatical in order to explore an initiative around ‘leadership or enterprise’, perhaps working in a community abroad, with an experience that could help develop the applicant’s current or future professional role and expertise.

All submissions must be made via the application form on RankNet. You can find this application form under ‘Opportunities’   Please direct any queries or questions direct to Helen at helen.stockdale@rankfoundation.com.

You will need to cover:

  • Where you want to go, for how long and why
  • A brief description on who you are, your current role and organisation
  • Who or what you intend to visit
  • What you hope to achieve
  • Provisional budget including any flight, travel, accommodation and associated costs (you do not need to commit the £8,000 in full)
  • Full contact details
  • The trip must be complete by the end of August 2019

The winner must be prepared to produce a short video diary, to produce a blog (during the trip for publication on
RankNet) and to make a formal presentation to the Rank team on their return.

The deadline for submissions is 5pm on the 15th June 2018 . You will be contacted by email, on the email address you have provided on this form, if you have been shortlisted by the  27th of June. We expect interviews to take place on the 12th July at the Rank Foundation office in London.

Good Luck!

HEY100 Leadership Programme Launch

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The HEY100 Leadership Programme, a free leadership and management development series, open to managers, community leaders, trustees and CEOs in Hull and East Yorkshire, was launched on the 26th of January.

Funded by Big Lottery and The Rank Foundation, this unique programme aims to cultivate leadership excellence to further strengthen the region’s voluntary, social and cultural sectors. Dawn Austwick, the CEO, of Big Lottery gave the key note address.  Jamie Peacock MBE, Head of Rugby at Hull Kingston Rovers; Helen Bissett, MD at Yorkshire-based communications agency H&H; David Sanderson MBE DL, Chief Executive Officer, The Rank Foundation; and JJ Tatten, Manager at the Warren Youth Project in Hull, were guest speakers, each giving a unique insight into management across their respective fields. Over 200 people attended the launch, hosted by the Double Tree Hilton hotel in Hull.

For more information, please visit https://www.hey100.org.uk/ .

Charity of the Month – January

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Humber all Nations Alliance (HANA)

Who are HANA?

HANA is a UK registered charity which aims to promote the well-being of black and minority ethnic (BME) communities throughout Humber and Hull. HANA aims to do this by providing BME communities with a voice, advocating on their behalf and by representing their interests in a range of influential or decision making contexts. As an umbrella organisation, HANA is composed of 50 BME constituted community groups, which represents most of the ethnicities, cultures and faiths in Hull and of the Humber region in general. HANA’s staff team and volunteers are able to speak more than 20 languages, which is an asset to community work and partnership development in a multicultural context.

Over the past few years, The Rank Foundation have supported HANA under the Foundation’s Hull Community Development Project, and provided the charity with a number of Time to Shine interns. HANA have recently appointed Brigitta Laszlo as new Chief Officer and have recruited a new intern, Badar.

HANA’s Projects

HANA provides BME communities with a number of services, including a hate crime reporting centre, mental health services addressing cultural sensitivity, employability training and school awareness workshops. In addition, HANA’s Eastern European Project, in partnership with the Humberside Police and The Rank Foundation, addresses the issues of Eastern European migrant communities. The Eastern European Project has helped forge relationships between the Eastern European communities and the Humberside Police, helping members of the community to understand that the Police play a supportive role in this country and that unlike other places, they should not ‘fear’ the Police, but rely in this institution when they face problems.

HANA is also one of the leading organisations in the delivery of cultural and community activities involving BME communities in Hull and Humber. HANA runs Ethnic Fashion Shows and a Football World Cup to increase cultural expressions and reinforce community cohesion. The Ethnic Fashion Shows are now well established in the City of Hull and attracts the attendance of hundreds of people, which helps the charity to promote and enhance community cohesion among people of all ethnic origins and backgrounds.

Contact details

If you would like to find out more information about HANA, they can be contacted through their website here.

Charity of the Month – November

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Essex Boys and Girls Clubs

Who are Essex Boys and Girls Clubs?

Essex Boys and Girls Clubs was set up in 1939 and works with young people across Essex and East London and at their adventure centers in Essex, Wales, Cumbria and Birmingham.  The charity helps young people to develop, by supporting 140 independent voluntary youth groups, which provide more than 15,000 teenagers with activities. The charity supports clubs which include activities such as cricket, boxing, football and outdoor activities, in the hope that this will provide teenagers with self-discipline, a ‘can-do’ spirit and a safe place to learn skills that will aid their future. In addition, Essex Boys and Girls Clubs run a range of projects with partner organisations, in order to help young people develop skills and confidence. These include The Duke of Edinburgh Award, National Citizen Service, The Arts Award and The John Muir Award.

What is our Relationship with Essex Boys and Girls Clubs?

Essex Boys and Girls Clubs, our longstanding grantee, have been highly supported by The Rank Foundation over the years due to their fantastic work. As they are a reliable and trustworthy charity, we have provided them with a number of Leadership Award students on their CAP placement, individuals on our YAP initiative and participants on our GAP program.

How does The Rank Foundation’s Placements Benefit the Charity and Individual?

Our placements are beneficial to both the charity and the individual, as the charity is provided with an extra helping hand and the individual receives relevant work experience and training. Sue Pell, the Fundraising Officer at Essex Boys and Girls Clubs, further explains:

‘’Having a Rank CAP student with us for two weeks helps us to give the young people we work with added support and encouragement, and in return, we are able to help the Rank student get a better idea of youth work and some of the challenges and adventures it can bring. Often the Rank students come to us from different backgrounds to the young people we work with, or have never had the opportunity to encourage and support other young people in the activities we offer.  Helping the Rank student to step up and take a level of responsibility within a group and watching them grow and develop is a privilege.  Many of the Rank students keep in touch with us after they have completed their placement.’’

Our 2015 Leadership Award Holder, Ishaq Raheel, spent his CAP placement at Essex Boys and Girls Clubs. He told us how his placement benefited him:

‘’Personally, I really enjoyed my placement. I met some really lovely people and learnt a lot about working with young people. For example, during my placement, I had to work alongside people with different severities of autism, which provided me with a developed understanding of how to work with people who have the condition. Furthermore, through observations of the site managers, I learnt how to manage a large number of young people.’’

Trieu Ho, from our 2013 Leadership Award cohort, explained how he overcame the challenges he faced during his placement at Essex Boys and Girls Clubs

‘’The biggest challenge I encountered during my placement was leading a group of young people during a crucial time, when they had to plan their social action project to give back to the community. There were individuals that were reluctant to participate, but I had to pull the team together and eventually they came up with a good plan for the project. I am proud to have assisted young people plan methods in which they can give back to the community and I am looking forward to seeing them execute their project.’’

Contact Details

If you would like to find out more information about Essex Boys and Girls Clubs, they can be contacted through their website here.

Rank Memorial Award – Bukola Garry

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Bukola Garry was the winner of The Rank Foundation’s Memorial Award in 2015. Bukola works for Reaching Higher, whom we have been working with for a number of years. Here, Bukola has kindly written us an account of her 2015 Memorial Award experience. 

I ended my Rank Memorial pitch saying – “Food being the major theme for this project is timeless, ageless, non-prejudice, it’s evoking, persuasive, it’s a legacy, it speaks so many languages. One of my favourite quotes says, ‘If you really want to make a friend, go to someone’s house and eat with him… the people who give you their food give you their heart’ ”. 

And that was the beginning of my 3-month Rank Memorial Award adventure.

It’s hard to capture in a few words the richness of the Rank Memorial Award experience but part of what I learned was about staying passionate about your area of interest so that when you share it, or try and create something out of it, the young people you want to attract will catch that passion and take it even further. It just so happens that my passion for food translates to young people in a range of ways and is a life skill that helps to build their confidence and their independence.

On 5th January 2015 I packed a giant suitcase, said goodbye to my husband, family and friends and headed to Sydney, Australia to work with an organisation called Youth Food Movement. They also share the heart behind bringing young people and food together. The Youth Food Movement started out as a group of young people who came together around a table for dinner to share a delicious meal of locally sourced, seasonal produce and their love for food. Out of that birthed an organisation that triggered a way of thinking that embodies all the principles I wanted to learn from and incorporate back into a project in South London.

While in Sydney I spent time visiting different farms that embrace new technologies to help grow crops and rear livestock in a sustainable way. What was interesting was that teams of young people were running these farms, (everyone on site was under the age of 30) and offered workshops for young people living in the local area. These workshops showcased the importance of the farming industry and the different ways young people can support them through changing their buying habits and exploring different ways of cooking that celebrated fresh ingredients over convenience food. Although this was not the exact experience I wanted to replicate in a project, it was great to see the different strategies used to engage young people and the hands on approach to getting their message across.

These visits inspired an idea for a series of events that celebrated and showcased different produce and those responsible for growing/rearing them called “Meet the Maker”. The aim was to get young people talking about food sustainability while sitting down together to eat. These events were held in bars and cafes popular with young people to ensure the right target audience had access and would be interested to attend the event. All the promotion was done on social media, again to try and attract a younger audience and to help make the issue of food production relevant in a conversational space. These events proved to be really successful and triggered a series of conversations online and face to face that saw the Youth Food Movement team recruit additional volunteers as well as encourage young people to set up workshops and hubs in their local areas, based around sitting together at a table and shedding light on the changing food environment and the impact their actions had.

Since returning from Sydney I have been able to start up two food-based projects as well as continue to develop my own knowledge therefore extending my experience in Sydney into my everyday life here in London and having a positive effect on the young people I work with.

The first project is called “Take Away”, a 6-week food project teaching young people basic cooking skills, affordable and easy recipes that explore healthy eating, meal planning as well as recipes that represent their different cultures and heritage. It also considers different options for sourcing food sustainably. This workshop presents an opportunity for young people to build positive peer-to-peer relationships. The young people are able to learn to work as a team, developing confidence and a core life skill using food as a platform.

The second project is called Full Circle, a programme that supports young people as they transition out of the care system and into independence. The part of this project developed as part of my Rank Memorial Award experience is teaching basic cooking skills as well as teaching young people how to shop effectively on a budget while maintaining a balanced diet.

The Rank Memorial Award is more than just a 3 month trip abroad – it is an opportunity, one that allows you to start something amazing that will continue to be effective in the future.

A Summer of CAP

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We are now right in the middle of my favourite time of year – Community Action Placements time! When I started at The Rank Foundation in April 2015, I didn’t know very much about CAP and felt I had a lot to learn. Since then, I’ve realised this is probably how most of our newly selected Leadership Award Holders feel. This is the second summer of CAP that I have been involved in, and this year has been particularly rewarding.

To those of you who aren’t familiar with Community Action Placements (CAP), they are exactly what they say on the tin – placements within the community. Every April, a new cohort of around 25-30 students are selected to become Rank Foundation Leadership Award Holders. They are all just finishing their GCSEs and transfer into sixth form the following September, and their Head teacher puts them forward to The Rank Foundation because they show high standards of leadership potential. The Rank Foundation is with them throughout the entirety of their sixth form life, and we request that in return for our financial help with their education, they commit to two sets of two-week placements across the two years they are with us at a charity we have connections with.

We have been running these placements for many years, and the main purpose of CAP is to expose these young leaders to community projects and problems that exist in the UK, taking them out of their comfort zone to experience what ‘real need’ feels like, and get them involved with people who can show them how to make a difference in their community. To first year Leadership Award Holders this can be really daunting, but ultimately once they are on the placement, they are nearly always bowled over by what an impact the placement has had on their young life. By the second year of their award, the Leadership Award Holders are really keen to go back on placement, see something new and get really involved.

I think reading their reports post-placement is possibly one of the most rewarding parts of them job. Having been their age not so long ago, it is easy to see that they are only just beginning to realise what an impact these placements will have on their future.

One of our very new Leadership Award Holders, Olivia McCann, did her first placement this summer at Brook in Birkenhead, Liverpool.

“I have found my work placement in Liverpool to be an incredibly eye-opening and enlightening experience. The staff were all very supportive and it was a pleasure to be part of such a hard-working team. One of the highlights of my time at Brook was being involved in the ‘Diversity Role Models’ session in two local high schools. I found the experience to be very eye-opening as I was able to listen to first hand experiences of homophobia and gain an understanding of the many difficulties LGBTs still face in modern society. I particularly enjoyed helping with admin after these events as I was able to see how these sessions had influenced the attitudes of the pupils regarding sexuality and discrimination. I also gained a lot of insight during outreach activities such as ‘Bitesize’ and ‘Positive Futures’ as well as learning how to deal with sensitive issues whilst working as a team. My biggest challenge was having to travel such a long distance alone and living independently from my parents. In this way, I gained a lot of independence whilst in Liverpool as I had to organise my own time and travel effectively. I found my host family to be very welcoming and I particularly liked the fact that I was living with foreign exchange students and had the opportunity to meet new people and learn about other cultures. Overall, I have found my time with Brook to be very memorable and rewarding and I am very grateful for the opportunity to work alongside a leading charity and witness the impact of its work. I would be absolutely delighted to work with Brook in the future on a similar placement.”

Archie Brown, one of our second-year Leadership Award Holders, headed up to Bradford to The Edge Project this summer.

“At The Edge Centre I have had the opportunity to work with some very inspirational people, most of them having grown up on the estate. They are great company to work besides and you get the feeling they are really striving to make a difference in the community. They run daily drop in sessions for kids to come in and use the facilities the centre offers. These sessions have been a great opportunity for me to get to know the kids on the estate and set a good example. I have also been involved with a baby bank where parents, particularly teenage parents, can come and get support. The baby bank offers them everything from baby food to toddlers clothes. They also run various other sessions throughout the week including performing arts, girls club and breakfast club for child carers. All of which gave me the opportunity to build a relationship with the kids that came regularly and really tested my leadership qualities. I have also been working in the Church with Hilary, my host, on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday working with a program called Daybreak, helping out senior members of the community. Overall, it has been a very eye opening and even life changing experience, one I will definitely be looking to do again in the near future.”

We are always looking to the charities we work with to help provide placements for CAP. With the demand for placements getting higher each year, we are looking to expand the group of charities that we work with on CAP, so if you think your organisation might be able to help, and you have an existing relationship with The Rank Foundation, please get in touch so we can give you more information.