In May 2024, UpRising’s newest programme Making Change Happen launched in East London, thanks to the generous support of the Worshipful Company of International Bankers.
Making Change Happen is tailored for individuals eager to spark positive change within their community by enhancing their knowledge of power and leadership within a collaborative environment.
UpRising are thrilled to be delivering programmes in London again and are looking forward to reconnecting with delivery partners both existing and new. Cohort 1 got off to a fantastic start as we were kindly hosted by the University of Sunderland in London who were a fantastic delivery partner, providing a great location to deliver our sessions at and a number of students who were eager to participate in the programme.
Over the past six weeks, students took part in a range of weekly sessions that;
- Expanded their leadership skills through immersive workshops covering topics such as understanding your own leadership style, navigating power dynamics, and understanding privilege and unconscious bias.
- Developed their understanding of London’s social and environmental challenges and how stakeholders collaborate to address these issues both systemically and through individual action.
- Gave them the opportunity to apply newfound leadership skills within a collaborative team environment to map out a campaign to create change in their local communities.
The programme culminated on Friday 7th June where participants were joined by volunteers from the Worshipful Company of International Bankers for a careers and networking event. Participants expressed how valuable they found the panel discussion where volunteers shared their career insights and top tips for standing out via CV’s and cover letters when job hunting, as well as the feedback provided as part of their mock interviews.
We’ll leave the final words to Making Change Happen participant, Pamela:
“I'm 24 and the reason why I joined the UpRising programme is because I'm becoming more interested in regards to doing more community social action. Where I've been living [Dagenham], I've been living there pretty much since the day I was born and I can see that the community definitely needs some social action from particularly our young people.
And I think this programme definitely helped me to understand the ways I can try and be able to create that social action within my community, understanding the power dynamics, understanding who I can speak to in terms of my local MP's and councillors being able to understand what I could also do as well. Understanding perhaps what the current issues are and how we can be able to raise awareness how we can be able to create initiative for them as well.
So I really have enjoyed this programme a lot because it helped me to identify the current issues right now and hopefully maybe across the next couple of weeks or so, maybe see if I can try and raise awareness and see what can be done to improve my community for the better.”
If you would like to join the next cohort of Making Change Happen - please check here for further updates.
If you are an organisation that has a group of young people aged 18-25 that you think may benefit from this programme, please get in touch with [email protected] for further information.
Pictures and captions to be used alongside article:
Graduates from the first Making Change Happen programme, delivered in partnership with the University of Sunderland in London
UpRising CEO, Marc Whitmore, congratulating Making Change Happen participant Eugene Khartey on graduation from the programme
Participants, UpRising staff and volunteers from the Worshipful Company of International Bankers at the final session of Making Change Happen