“I really enjoyed the ‘be the change’ event – I know from talking to the young people we sent how much they gained from it. I am happy to support this work and encourage other schools to be involved if this would be helpful.”
Richard Bradford, Head at Dorothy Stringer
“It was indeed a challenging group – I was very pleased to see that the most challenging had a 180 degree change in behaviour during the event and was even offered an apprenticeship at the end. Very fulfilling!”
Susana Morato Grice, VP Network Policy Development – Core, Global Network Integrity
“It was a pleasure and a great event, thank you for involving us.”
Sue Parris, Welfare & Player Services Manager, BHAFC
“A brilliant day yesterday, our students really enjoyed it and was great to see so many business leaders there too. I would like to participate in more events like this in the future. Thanks again.”
“I just wanted to say that yesterday was a brilliant day and our students really enjoyed it, it was great to see them and so many business and community leaders working in this way.”
Matthew Warwick, Hove Park School
“It was a real pleasure being part of the day and I really enjoyed the whole event. The energy, dedication and professionalism that both Graham and Carlo put into the day were phenomenal and truly inspiring. I am very happy to lend my services again if you ever need a volunteer or someone to do a talk about my experiences.”
Tony Crosbie, General Manager, Sodexo Prestige
‘…. All I can say is ‘what a fabulous and rewarding day’…..’
Nicola Weale, Careers Advice Officer, Northbrook College
“Just a very quick email to say thank you for all your hard work on and before the day on Thursday. I found it very uplifting and think the students got a lot out of it. Hopefully there will be a chance to participate in similar events.”
Helen Emerson, Head of PSHE & Careers, Dorothy Springer
“WOW!!!!! Yesterday was truly amazing. Thank you so much for letting me come along to this most brilliant event. Humanutopia are incredible. Every student should have this opportunity. Really want to work something out for our students in early Autumn if possible. Thank you!”
Debbie Mansfield, Transition Work Related Learning Mentor, The Connected Hub
“Rose your work and tireless efforts to organise this event were superb, I know there was also a team of people behind this to support you, please pass on our gratitude to them all!
As for you Gary, cheeky chappy… you deserve all the plaudits, you are a wonderful role model for all young people in Brighton. Your ability to communicate with everyone is hugely impressive, you network with authenticity and you have engaged, believed and supported our organisation both professionally and with passion.
Thanks to everyone from LoveLocalJobs for giving us a chance to bring our work to Brighton.”
Carlo Missirian, Co-founder, Humanutopia
“I wanted to thank you for being so kind and welcoming today, you ran an event perfectly and it will have a bigger impact than you can ever imagine. We have all been kids with bins and it’s humbling as well as touching to see young adults powerfully stand up be brave and empathetic. Thank you for making an important impact.”
Esther Brown, Economic & Social Engagement Manager at University of Brighton
“Thank you so much for letting me be a part of today. It was phenomenal. I’ve never seen such change occurring in such a short time. It is without doubt the most inspiring and rewarding day that I’ve been a part of. The teams at Humanutopia and LoveLocalJobs.com should be hugely proud of what they’ve achieved. You might not know but I grew up in a council estate in North West London, went to state school and didn’t have a foreign holiday until I paid for one when I was 16. Anyway, a lot of what happened today struck a chord. Seeing the change in the room was brilliant. It would be impossible not to be moved! I’m not an emotional person, but I had tears in my eyes.“
James Dempster, Managing Director, Cobb Digital
“All, well done on today. A real buzz and a high level of engagement from the guests. The challenge now is to maintain the initiative and make it sustainable – but you knew that anyway! Great performance from everybody.”
Chris Maidment, Crawley Local Economic Action Group Chair, Governor of Central Sussex College Corporation, Board Treasurer for Young Enterprise Brighton & Hove and LoveLocalJobs.com Chair
“Great event – let’s discuss the GD version & all my team want to be involved on the day.”
Jeremy Taylor, Chief Executive, Gatwick Diamond Business
“It was a pleasure to be part of the day and I found it to be an emotional and hugely inspirational journey that I went on with the students within one day! Powerful!”
Simon Gregg, Operations Director, IT First
“The event was hugely inspiring and the transformation in the young people was amazing. It creates a positive change to both the young people and the business volunteers. I definitely think all school students should experience Be the Change, I wish there had been something similar when I was at school!”
Anne Cooper, Business Volunteer, Let’s Do Business
“It was a very enjoyable and insightful day, a big thanks for involving me. Overall, I thought the event was brilliant.”
Lisa Mitchell, Economic and Social Engagement, University of Brighton
“It was a pleasure to be there.”
Guy Lloyd, Juice FM DJ, Latest TV Star
“It was a pleasure to participate in such a great event.”
Paul Barber, Chief Executive, BHAFC
“Last week’s event was fantastic; everyone was really moved and totally engaged.”
Jo Brooks, BHAFC Commercial Team
“I wanted to thank LoveLocalJobs and the team for the awe inspiring Be the Change project that I attended at the Amex. Without doubt, it was the most inspiring event for young people that I have ever attended and I hope this model can be replicated across the South-East to genuinely help change the lives and ambitions of our future generations.”
Scott Marshall, Director for the Economy, Adur & Worthing Councils
“It was an exceptional day, and all the boys from PACA verbally said it was ‘much better than they thought it would be!’ I thought that Human Utopia had a brilliant approach, and I think part of the reason why they are so successful is the time they take at the beginning of the session to convey that they respect the young people not patronize them and that everything they say and do is coming from that place. Great stuff.”
Nicola Lombardo, PSHE & Progression Manager at PACA
Feedback from Longhill Students:
“It was really inspiring, loads of information and I know where to go if I need help with CV writing” – Kieran
“It was interesting and very helpful. It made me learn I don’t need to worry about talking to new people” –Dylan
“Inspirational, enjoyable and enjoyed meeting Gordon Greer” – Alfie
“Inspiring, real eye opener and enjoyed meeting new people” – Charlie
“Extremely beneficial to me and very inspiriational” – Harry
“Exceptionally eye opening and inspiriational” – Sam
”It was good and I thought it helped me to feel less embarrassed about meeting and talking to new people” –Ashley
Comments from BACA students included:
“Everything made me think twice about life.”
Comments from Cardinal Newman students included:
“Amazing! I loved every bit – this needs to carry on. Everyone was lovely!”
“Thank you for organising the event, it was life changing. I wish everyone could have this opportunity.”
“Thank you so much for such an amazing opportunity and experience.”
“I now feel much more confident about myself.”
“Thank you for this amazing opportunity. All volunteers and staff were so friendly.”
Comments from Dorothy Stringer included:
“It was great!”
“Was really good!”
“Thank you!!”
“I really enjoyed it – it really helped me, thank you.”
Comments from Cardinal Newman students included:
“Amazing! I loved every bit – this needs to carry on. Everyone was lovely!”
“Thank you for organising the event, it was life changing. I wish everyone could have this opportunity.”
“Thank you so much for such an amazing opportunity and experience”
“I now feel much more confident about myself.”
“Thank you for this amazing opportunity. All volunteers and staff were so friendly.”
