CEO’s Reflections 2024
Where has the year gone? It feels like only yesterday I was reflecting on 2023, and yet here we are, on the brink of 2025. As we look forward to even greater achievements, it’s a perfect moment to pause and celebrate the incredible progress we’ve made this year.
The sheer scale of what we’ve accomplished is astonishing. Our Safe Mentoring Programme, delivered through Core and Co Foundation, has reached over 160 young people in the last 18 months alone. For many, their lives are chaotic, with school attendance feeling insurmountable. Yet, thanks to our dedicated mentors, we’ve helped young people regain stability, stay in school, and develop vital social skills to shape their futures.
“Thanks to our dedicated mentors, we've helped young people regain stability, stay in school and develop vital social skills to shape their futures.”
But it doesn’t stop here. Looking ahead, we face significant challenges, especially with cuts to youth services. Now more than ever, we need your support to sustain and grow our vital work.
Here’s how you can make a difference:
- Become a regular giver and directly fund safe spaces, resources, and mentoring that transform young lives.
- Partner with us as your Charity of the Year, supporting through office fundraisers and volunteer efforts.
Your contribution fuels the change we create. Together, let’s ensure the year ahead is one of resilience, empowerment, and hope.
Join us today—because every child deserves a brighter future.
We began with our second cohort Boss Up Business development programme kindly supported by Natwest. We hosted a cohort of 15 who were on a mission to see their businesses develop and begin to take steps to making their businesses successful.
FEBRUARY
Hosted and planned by one of our young people, we held the second Girl You Got This event, the focus was on mental health resilience, sexual health, and confidence.
March was all about celebrating International Women’s Day, our CEO Sabrina Dennis, was out sharing and talking all things women empowerment and featured on a panel at the IWD Conference and Expo held at Millenium Point with fellow trustee Daniella Genas, talking about women in business and supporting each other.
At the same time we began to learn about the impending cuts that were due to be announced through Birmingham City Council, our CEO was invited to contribute to a peoples panel on GBN to discuss the impact of those cuts and what that would mean for the charity sector as well as the families and young people we support directly.
Just before Easter our volunteers – First Class Nation curated an empowerment event for young people known to be at risk of youth violence within our local community. The Life Empowerment Conference was held over two days. Day one took place at KPMG an inspiring city centre building that housed 50 young people. There was an opportunity to gain experience from youth workers, listen to inspiring speakers and be entertained through music and dance. Day one was the introduction to the deeper work that would take place the following day, where young people in attendance would be challenged and tasked to think about their future, through inspiring speakers, workshops, and activities.
Members of our Dear Youngers Team took cohorts of young people from Bartley Green School to Oxford University to embark on a creative writing programme, but also to expose many young people to the phenomenal world of Oxford University. Together they have produced an augmented reality book that will be available to purchase next year!
Work also began in Ladywood, supporting the young people who had experienced trauma from the tragic murders that took place last year. Working with our media team, the young people are being supported to therapeutically share their experiences through digital media, with the hopes of producing a short film that will highlight their work but also tell the story of their lives, in their way.
60 young people
MAY
May saw the production of the Kitchen Table Talks Practitioner and parent toolkits. The practitioner toolkits are a way to offer the Kitchen Table Talks Service to Practitioners in a more sustainable way. Our CEO and founder of KTT Sabrina Dennis, developed the toolkit to enable practitioners to be trained to set up their own KTT forum in a space suitable for them, by providing all the resources including merchandise and branding the toolkit is a grab and go solution for those who want to engage more meaningfully with their parents.
The parent box was also developed to empower parents to create their own KTT at home, with their own family, boxes come complete with conversation starter cards, journals, and pens to enable them to progress in creating a safe and warm environment to have inspiring, impactful, and sometimes challenging conversations.
JUNE/JULY
During June we developed the Kitchen Table Talks Online Resource Hub with the brand-new Confessions of a Youth Worker Podcast. The podcast takes the audience on a journey of understanding what the world of youth and community work is like when it comes to serious Youth Violence.
Featuring leaders, practitioners and community members, the podcast was a remarkable success and is now available on the Kitchen Table Talks Resource Hub.
Throughout the Summer we did something unheard of- we took a break!
After all the new announcements, changes to parliament and a brand-new Mayor of the West Midlands, we spent time understanding the changes and what they would mean for us as a charity. We had the opportunity to meet with the New Mayor Richard Parker and shared our thoughts on what we believe is needed and necessary to support our families and young people.
We began our launch of the Kitchen Table Talks Toolkits, on a mission to get as many families a parent box as possible and to train as many practitioners as possible. Our mentors were back in school catching up with mentees and setting new milestones for the year ahead.
Our CEO was also featured in the Birmingham Black Business Magazine which was a wonderful achievement.
We spent time strategically planning and positioning the charity, thinking about the next 10 years at our annual board away day. This was a critical event, as the announcement of 53 million cut from youth services within Birmingham, the transfer of assets such as youth clubs and youth centres and the loss of jobs will inevitably have an impact on us and the families we support. We spent time analysing the impact and planning what we can do and contribute to in the years ahead.
Kitchen Table Talks Practitioner training was delivered for Coventry youth Justice, where the former participants for Kitchen Table Talks along with practitioners were trained to develop their own space. It was an immense success.
NOVEMBER
I Saw the launch of our brand-new faith toolkit- Be the change you want to see. A bespoke training programme developed in partnership with the Violence Reduction Partnership, Solve CYVC and Capella, designed to train faith leaders in community safety, trauma informed support and youth violence. Created from the work delivered over the last six years where we as a charity have supported families who have been on the receiving end of youth violence, but who also are connected to faith groups, we felt it necessary to train and empower the faith community to be able to effectively respond. Our Trustee and CEO also had the opportunity to support the Smile for Joel Fundraising Gala, in partnership with Blackthornes Accountants one of our charity sponsors. We were proud to support such a phenomenal charity that support families who are victims of homicide and terrorism.
And here we are at the end of the year, reflecting on all the challenges and changes, but with a sense of sincere gratitude and humility. We are extremely grateful to our head of outreach, Joe Marson, our phenomenal mentors who have been faced with incredible challenges but have persevered. We are also grateful to our volunteers, in First Class Nation, thank you for your support seen and unseen.
An incredibly special thank you to our regular givers, your support has made a massive difference. Thank you.
Thank you to our charity partners, OTD – Our Training Department, Browne Jacobson, Blackthornes Accountants, Jaguar Land Rover, KPMG – your support has been exceptional, from HR support to financial support and even physical space, we thank you so very much.
Now as we enter the year ahead, we need your help, to ensure we can continue to deliver the work that is critical to our community. Would you become a regular giver? Your giving keeps us going and allows us to go the extra mile, by providing meals with mentors, resources that young people need and safe spaces to allow children to be children.
If you are a company why not chose us as your charity of the year, by doing office fundraising activities and volunteering. Thank you.