I’ve been CEO of Power2 for just over six weeks now and the time has flown by. I’ve read a lot of documents, had a lot of meetings and asked a lot of questions, and everyone – from staff to partners to board members – has been very generous with their time and help. As we move towards the development of our next three-year strategy it’s great to hear everyone’s ideas for the future, and I’m confident we’ll go from strength to strength in our ability to make a real difference to the children and young people we work with.

 

Power2 in action

And it’s meeting the young people that has been the highlight so far. This began even before I was appointed, when I was interviewed by a panel of our Young Leaders – who asked by far the most difficult questions of all the interviews I had – followed by visits to Teens and Toddlers programmes in Newham, London and Wythenshawe, Manchester. It was great to meet the young people taking part in our programme and to see the really positive relationships they’ve developed with each other, and their pride in the difference they’ve made to the children they mentor.

And a couple of weeks ago I spoke at our North West graduation event in Manchester, where we celebrated the achievements of over 120 young people who successfully completed our programme. It was a fantastic evening, made even better by many of them being able to bring their families along to see their success. An email I received afterwards from one of the parents summed up the whole evening for me:

 

“We were so proud of them both and feel they did amazingly.  Giving pupils at school the opportunity to be on the ‘Teens and Toddlers’ scheme is brilliant and an amazing experience for them.  I know they enjoyed every minute and it helped with their confidence and working with their peers in the community.  I just wanted to let you know how proud the girls made us and they are certainly a credit to the school and feel it should be recognised just how good the girls did and how the "Teens and Toddlers" scheme helps students in more ways than one. I'm one proud mother.”

And I’m one proud CEO.