Students from West London College were celebrated for their leadership achievements at an event organised by Groundwork London and Berkeley Foundation.
The 74 graduates from Groundwork’s youth leadership programme met at Berkeley Group’s The Green Quarter development in Southall to celebrate their success.
The 14-week programme offers young people weekly leadership skills workshops, social action planning and a leadership residential which they then apply to the new skills learnt in local green spaces.
The West London College students created a greenhouse for the local community using recycled and sustainably sourced materials.
Sally Dickinson, head of Berkeley Foundation said: “For the second year running we have partnered with Groundwork London to work with an amazing group of young people. We continue to invest in our long-running and new partnerships to empower young people to create positive change in their communities.”
Ms Dickinson added: “It has been fantastic to see Berkeley’s employees playing an active role in the delivery of some of the workshops – particularly in terms of helping the participants to develop their decision-making and leadership skills.”
Shabaz Ferozdin, assistant director, youth services at Groundwork London said: “We are delighted with the cohorts we’ve seen in the second year of the programme. They brought new and inspiring ideas to their social impact projects, from tackling key themes such as knife crime, air pollution, and bullying to working with a charity that uses gamification to improve the health and well-being of people in cities.”
Ms Ferozdin added: “Young people are our future leaders and this programme equips them with essential skills and experience to bring positive change which contributes to a better society for all.”
