The Dispossessed

Last week the Evening Standard ran a special report on London’s dispossessed in a campaign to reduce poverty in the capital. Many readers were shocked at the extent of the poverty that exists on their doorstep and I was really moved and encouraged by the number of people donating money, stationary, cots, baby clothes, theatre tickets, restaurant vouchers etc.

One of the facts in the report that really stuck out was that Hackney has the highest proportion of NEET 16-18 year olds (currently 10%!) of any London Borough. I think Sir Trevor Chinn, Chair of the Mayor’s Fund for London, hit the nail on the head when he said “the best way out of poverty is a decent job. But to get them to that position they need training, confidence building and support.”

ReachOut! is constantly trying to address these issues through our mentoring projects. The generosity of our volunteers, not with money or material donations but with their time, is imperative to raising our young people’s aspirations, building self esteem and giving them the much needed one-to-one academic support which so often they aren't able to access. We are so grateful to have such motivated volunteers who give up their time to make a difference; their efforts are hugely appreciated.

Fran Blackwell

ReachOut! Charity Cup 2010

ReachOut! Charity Cup 2010 Champions

For the second year in a row, PokerStars.com walked away victorious from The Petchey Academy, unbeaten and undisputed ReachOut! Charity Cup 2010 Champions.

The event, organised and hosted by young people from the ReachOut FC u14s teams, runs every year to raise money for ReachOut!, inviting prestigious businesses to enter teams at a premium rate of £500 each to compete in London’s premiere football competition. With seven 13/14 year old boys from ReachOut FC putting together the night’s action, including refreshments & hospitality (Kenneth Koranteng and Perry Walsh), tournament organisation (Nathanael Kwateng, Tosin Oguntohun and Yosief Mehari) and photography & presentations (Ibrahim Bangura and Wasim Nawaz), it was a great opportunity for people to find out a bit more about the young people we work with whilst giving those same kids a chance to do something valuable and develop new skills.

Lurid - BCG and Award Winning Goalie Pierre “Higuita“ Pourquery

This year’s participants were the aforementioned PokerStars.com team, Bloomberg LP (2 teams), Macquarie Bank, Barclays Capital, Boston Consulting Group (who would surely have won any award for Most Lurid Kit), PwC Legal and defeated finalists, Oliver Wyman. The event was highly competitive, and organised impeccably by the kids (with the slight exception of team photography… apologies to those teams whose photos were accidentally deleted!). Barclays Capital star man Joshua Mathew walked away with the Golden Boot and Player of the Tournament awards after a series of blistering performances, whilst Pierre “Higuita“ Pourquery’s flamboyant goalkeeping display and a blockbusting left foot, from-his-own-half goal for BCG earned him the Goalkeeper of the Tournament trophy.

Cllr Muttalip Unluer (Speaker of Hackney Council) presided over the final presentation of trophies, including Rupert Graham's (Pokerstars) Best Defender prize and the brilliantly ironic Fair Play Trophy awarded to Barclays Capital (the only team to earn themselves a red card in the event). Special mention should go to Wasim Nawaz who awarded the individual prizes at short notice after the boys who were supposed to run the presentation “had to go to a party instead”. Wasim did a great job, as did all the boys on the night and we hope to match this year’s success in 2011.

Pete Blackwell