PACA plan to give young people given top class mentoring (From The Argus)

PACA plan to give young people given top class mentoring

5:10pm Saturday 23rd February 2013 in News

Portslade Aldridge Community Academy

By Gareth Davies

A Sussex school will play host to an entrepreneurial scheme that will see successful applicants awarded £500 and receive top-notch mentoring to help with their projects.

Educational charity the Aldridge Foundation is launching the Brighton and Hove Pegasus Awards from the Portslade Aldridge Community Academy (PACA) this spring.

Budding entrepreneurs are urged to come forward with their ideas to set up local projects and social enterprises that make a difference to their lives and their communities.

Natasha Silsby, community manager at the Aldridge Foundation, said: “The aim of the event is to support the young people applying for a Pegasus Award by helping them continue to develop their idea and get it ready for submission, as well as offering a general information gathering event for any who may not quite be at the stage to apply but are interested in taking part and getting involved.”

The Portslade Academy will host a Turn Your Ideas into Action event on Saturday, March 16 from 10am to 12pm and is open to all local children and young people.

Mrs Silsby said the awards are open to everyone aged between nine and 18 who live or go to school in Portslade.

The scheme’s tagline is “giving young people’s ideas wings” and specialised tutors are in charge of getting the ideas off the ground.

Mentoring applicants

They include Nathan Au of FareShare, Ty Goddard, co-founder of the Education Foundation, Sophie Gaston from the Aldridge Foundation and Simon Thompson from the University of Sussex.

They will mentor the successful applicants for 12 months in an attempt to bring their ideas to reality.

Ideas are already being given the go-ahead by the scheme and among the successful applicants are dedicated duo Mitch and Rabbit from BACA.

They aim to develop and run a programme of football opportunities for local primary school-aged children and believe that football is the key to encouraging more children to get healthy and enjoy playing outside.

The boys attended their first mentoring session and got the chance to visit the AMEX Community Stadium to meet with their Pegasus mentor.

Coachling development

Together, they discussed different options for developing the pairs’ experience of coaching and linking in with other local football initiatives and have agreed to meet again to plan the next stages.

BACA Head of Sport Stuart Townsend said: “Mitch and Rabbit are shining examples of what our students can achieve when they push themselves.

“As young leaders they have the drive and enthusiasm to inspire others and I look forward to seeing how their project develops.”

Mrs Silsby said the scheme is for people who have an idea to make something positive happen in their area, be it urging more people to get involved in the community or helping less people feel left out.

Sparking enthusiasm

She has posted two videos on YouTube to help spark people’s enthusiasm and to aid the idea-formulating process.

They can be viewed by searching ‘Pegasus Awards’ on the website.

The Aldridge Foundation is an educational charity founded by Sir Rod Aldridge OBE in 2006 to help young people to reach their potential and improve their communities, principally through the sponsorship of entrepreneurial academy schools and colleges.

For more information, visit aldridgecommunities.wordpress.com/pegasus-award.

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