Thursday 25^th June saw 150 young people from Birmingham who represented a further 380, receive their Young Envisionaires Award for demonstrating commitment, teamwork, making a positive difference to their community and leading by example. Envision hosted an Awards Ceremony for all those students who took part in the programme for sixth forms and colleges across Birmingham. This year over Birmingham took part in the programme. The event was hosted by Envision students Tom, from Bishop Vesey’s Grammar School and Asia from George Dixon International College.

The evening, which was held at the Custard Factory in Birmingham, was full of activities including recycling and jewellery workshops, live music, food and the awards ceremony. There were special awards up for grabs for those students who had excelled during the year and taken advantage of every aspect of the Envision programme. This year, Joseph Chamberlain College’s anti-racism group won team of the year for their fantastic workshops in primary schools and huge attendance at all Envision events. Liam from Archbishop Ilsley and Pippa from St Francis of Assisi won Male and Female students of the year respectively. Envision also recognised the work carried out by its adult volunteers from the local community who give up a few hours each week to support the young people on their projects during weekly meetings. Catarina won the Adult Volunteer of the Year Award for her work with Shenley Court School.

Other winners on the evening included Project of the Year, which went to King Edwards VI Aston Grammar School, Community Impact Award which went to Bishop Vesey’s Grammar school and Contact Teacher of the Year which was awarded to Karen Paul from George Dixon International College.

Envision teamed up with global campaign, ‘Not Stupid’ to theme the event around climate change. Each student was provided with an activist pack and the trailer of the groundbreaking indie film, ‘The Age of Stupid’ was shown before the ceremony.

Envision’s Programme Manager for Birmingham Andrew Ridge said:

“It was fantastic to see so many of Birmingham’s young people recognised for their achievements over the past year and challenge the stereotype that they are disengaged and apathetic towards the important issues going on around them. They are clearly passionate about what goes on in their schools and local communities and take their responsibilities as citizens seriously.”

Envision has been recognised by the Homes and Communities Agency at their annual academy awards celebration. The Homes and Communities Agency is the national housing and regeneration delivery agency for England whose role is to create thriving communities and affordable homes. Community Engagement is a key part of their work and they believe that by engaging people in the development of the places in which they live and work, we can create a sense of community pride and ownership. The awards celebrate projects that combine innovation and dedication to improve communities, making them more sustainable.

Envision, has just received the 16^th annual Guardian Charity Awards. The Guardian Charity Awards showcase excellence and innovation of small to medium sized charities. Envision staff and students accepted the award on the 4^th December at the new Guardian headquarters in Kings Cross which were presented by Sarah Brown.

Nick Nielsen, Director and Co-Founder said:

“Winning this award is incredibly exciting; it recognises the dedication and passion of all the young people we work with. These young people are an inspiration to us and we hope that winning this award will inspire more young people to make a difference to their communities”

Much of Envision's work is in inner city areas, where there are high levels of disadvantage and low social mobility, for example the Aston ward of Birmingham and the Camberwell ward of south-east London. According to New Philanthropy Capital and national volunteering charity 'v' there is a clear need to offer more opportunities for young people to get involved in structured activities outside of school teaching hours.
Large-scale youth training events, which are informal, fun and entertaining as well as educational, bring together all the young people from a variety of background together to learn and share ideas and enthusiasm.

The young envisionaries at George Dixon School in Birmingham set out to make an incredible difference to issues of personal and global significance: international people trafficking and stereotyping of young people and of Islam. Despite language barriers and varied cultural backgrounds, this team of 26 young refugees developed a project that raised awareness of their chosen issues. With the help of an MC, they produced a rap, and a documentary about their peers' own views.
They showcased the rap and the film to their peers in several assemblies. In developing the project they also took advice from a child trafficking expert from Banardo's. They felt very strongly about this and wrote to an MP to challenge what the government is doing to tackle the issues.
Later this year the team will deliver a presentation to MPs at the House of Commons.