2023 Multipliers

Chloe Lewis has worked in the third sector for over 10 years. She’s passionate about making a difference to the lives of young people. Chloe founded The Catalyst Collective in late 2021, out of a desire to connect up Black teenage girls with representative role models who could help them accelerate towards their goals and navigate the challenges that Black girls and women face in their educational and professional realms. The Catalyst is now in its third programme cycle, working with committed partner schools in London and hoping to expand geographically and in the diversity of the programme offerings. Outside of building the Catalyst, Chloe is a Civil Servant at the Department for Education working in policy and procurement, and a part-time PhD student at the University of Cambridge. Her research explores the doctoral experiences of Black British students.

Jamie Kinlochan is part of Friends of Barshaw Park in Paisley – a volunteer-run charity that is restoring and enhancing their local park, by creating accessible and fun ways for people in the community to learn and come together. The group has recently opened a community garden, providing learning and growing space for ten community organisations and a tool library, providing gardening equipment to people at no cost. When not in the park, Jamie is a counsellor and a facilitator. His work provides individuals and organisational teams with non-judgmental and warm space to do big, transformational thinking. Jamie's past work has involved policy-changing engagement with the First Minister of Scotland, the production of a prime-time documentary that centred lived experience of the care system and the delivery of a unique counselling service. Jamie was awarded a BEM in the New Year Honours list for his work during the pandemic.

Richard Brice is the founder of Clean Slates Solution. He is on a lifetime’s mission to support people with past convictions find paid employment. Richard is building up a network of willing employers and supporters across North Yorkshire and Teesside - introducing them to those who are recently out of the justice system. Richard is passionate about what he does and is keen to change perceptions, policies and prospects through the work he is doing.

Monika is the co-founder of The Spirit Of Liverpool an initiative to improve access to film archives. Monika has experience working in community cinemas for over 10 years, first as a co-founder of Liverpool Small Cinema and then in 2019, starting The Spirit of Liverpool. Its aims are for local communities in the city to connect with their own heritage while improving their wellbeing by preventing isolation, increasing communication with others and learning about archiving. Monika's main focus is to address the risk of loss and lack of representation using her own experiences of working in community cinema settings and by challenging perceptions through screenings events and workshops in Liverpool’s neighbourhoods.

As an award-winning community activist, Josh’s work within this sector feeds into the art created and the work they make through their organisation Downtown Pompey. Finding meaningful ways to bridge gaps between communities and walking alongside individuals’ stories. Downtown Pompey aims to bring Portsmouth together, building bridges and physical spaces where we can have meaningful conversations on identity, placement and belonging, whether that’s through garden parties, workshops, or classic cabaret style performances. Using their background in LGBTQ+ social and community work Downtown Pompey nestles sweetly between a community group and a theatre company, encouraging Pompey to head Downtown where everybody goes!

United2Change was set up over 2 years ago when Samia and her other co-founders were out walking in Grangetown, Cardiff, during the pandemic. The four women, all mothers, began speaking to young people. It was apparent from those conversations how in need of support young people were feeling. United2Change was formed after many conversations and involvement from other parents and their children. They formalised a group and started to think about ways to empower young people to have a voice, to encourage young people to make positive changes, to raise awareness of social issues and to promote a sense of belonging within the community. Samia is a mother, and she embodies both Welsh and Somali culture which she believes helps her understand the local community. She has many years’ experience working with young people in the Youth Offending Service and she is studying for a degree in Youth and Community Work.

Windmill Community Gardens Margate (WCGM) is a community food growing project in Dane Valley, Margate, established in 2004. WCGM promotes biodiversity and growing food sustainably whilst tackling food poverty and reducing food waste locally. WCGM sells produce to sustain its free services and donates surplus produce to food banks and charities. Lorna aims to bring people with different experiences from diverse communities together to forge connections reducing cultural divides by growing, cooking and sharing produce. Co-producing enjoyable, outdoor learning activities to promote community connections, enabling marginalised people experiencing isolation to feel better about their community, themselves and their environment whilst reaching individual aspirations.

Mohammed Ismail is the founder and project manager at Uffo Athletic, a London based not-for-profit organisation that provides and promotes access to physical activities in the Somali, Muslim, and wider London communities through walking, running, athletic activities and traditional board games in an environment that is open, understanding and culturally valued. Mohammed is a keen long-distance runner, an athletics coach, walk leader and an autism lead trainer. His passion lies in supporting local communities to lead healthier and happier lives and bringing different people together to share experiences, oral histories, and build resilience through common interests in sports and leisure activities.

Lisa February and Matt Gray are creative practitioners based in North East Lincolnshire. Having met at a Youth Theatre back in 2016, they then worked and were mentored together gaining an understanding of how a creative career could both exist and be successful in their region. In 2021, they started lowercase theatre, an arts organisation inspired by their community and experiences living and growing up in Grimsby. lowercase exists to amplify North East Lincolnshire stories and voices, making work that sparks conversation around subjects that matter to local residents in dynamic and exciting ways, and also creating opportunities for young s to see themselves as a collaborative community and realise their potential together

Ola Fagbohun, a health and wellness coach/facilitator, and behavioural insight researcher, founded Zest OF: You, as a catalyst for social change; empowering and enabling intergenerational, intercultural, and intersectional peri and post-menopausal women, to age well on their own terms. Using a compassionate person-centered, holistic, and creative approach to health and wellness coaching, Ola and Zest OF: You supports diverse women (especially those living with long-term health conditions) to live a fulfilling life, by embracing and celebrating ‘growing ‘older. Ola works with community-based organisations to fight ageism and build social connectedness. Using a variety of evidence-based tools and techniques, Zest OF: You enables and empowers diverse women to creatively discover and express their unique gifts, and ultimately thrive in every aspect of their lives, as they age in a unique meaningful way.

Ru co-runs Growing Hope, a safe wellbeing and gardening space for sanctuary seekers across Bradford where folks can connect, learn, and grow together. Growing Hope is part of a wider project called Horton Community Farm (HCF), a small cooperative in inner-city Bradford, with a focus on therapeutic activities, food growing, education, and wildlife. HCF's services reach people on the edges; refugees and asylum seekers, low-income households, people who are isolated, and those struggling with their mental and physical health. Ru is passionate about inclusion and finding new ways of welcoming and working with people on the fringes. They work alongside their wonderful teammates Maryam, Jonathan, and Laura Burfitt.

Rachel Pedley, founded Avant Cymru in September 2015, having moved back home to the Rhondda, with the aim of providing further opportunities for professional artists to collaborate, create, teach in the Valleys and develop work to showcase the communities diverse stories. Rachel is an actress, dancer, choreographer, and teacher. She has a passion for the community which came from her childhood when she would listen to her grandfather sing and perform in a Welsh male voice choir. Rachel has Autism, dyslexia and epilepsy and as a young person experienced anxiety and low confidence, often keeping her head down. In her dance classes her teachers would remind her to stand en avant - with her head up, eyes forward - this is the inspiration behind Avant's name; head up and look forward, feel more confident in ourselves and each other.

Luke Newman is the co-founder of Testlands. Luke was motivated by his own childhood and decided to make a difference in his local community by working to remove barriers and create more opportunities and choice for the local community. Testlands was formed in 2010 and 13 years on, they are continuing to break down barriers and create opportunities for thousands of children, young people, and local community members. Testlands have a Wellbeing Hub concept that utilises existing facilities for multiple functions, bringing revenue from different sectors into a pot than enables them to create the opportunities the local community wants and needs. This is a model Luke is looking to upscale, enabling the organisation to support many more, children, young people, and local communities.

Emma is the Founder and CEO of SELFA Children’s Charity based in Skipton, North Yorkshire. She helped to set up SELFA after identifying a gap in provision for children and young people over 15 years ago. The charity supports over 450 children and young people through their activities and programmes each year. Emma qualified as a Parent Wellbeing Coach in 2018 and subsequently developed a family programme for SELFA so she could pass on all that she’s learnt and achieved, as well as create a network of parents like her. Over the years, Emma has become well-known for her campaigning on children and young people’s mental health in rural communities, which is deeply rooted in her own experience as a parent of a child with mental health support needs. She has two teenage children: Hannah and Aidan.