About Young Manchester

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MANCHESTER IS YOUNG

Manchester is a young, diverse and vibrant city.

42% of Manchester's population is aged 25 or under, our city is home to world-class cultural institutions, and Manchester is the third fastest growing economy in the UK - expected to reach a size of £71 billion by the end of 2023.

But we're leaving our children behind. 45% of children in Manchester are currently living in poverty. The impact of the pandemic, the cost of living crisis, and the way systems are currently working are restricting young people's ability to thrive and reach their potential.

YOUNG MANCHESTER

Young Manchester is a youth-led partnership with over 120 members - all local non-profit organisations and groups supporting children and young people in Manchester.

We strengthen, connect and champion opportunities for children and young people (aged 0-25), ensuring these reach the most excluded children and young people in our city.

Together, we're creating a Manchester where every child and young person can shape their city and reach their full potential through vibrant, connected and inclusive opportunities.

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"Our vision is of a Manchester where every child and young person can shape their city and reach their full potential through vibrant, connected and inclusive opportunities."

WHAT WE DO

The challenges facing Manchester’s children and young people can’t be solved by one person or organisation alone.

Young Manchester brings organisations, individuals and systems together, to strengthen, connect and champion their work, and to find and deliver solutions to some of the most complex challenges facing our children and young people today.

We do this in four ways:

1. We Put Power in Young People's Hands

We embed young people's voices in all levels of Young Manchester's work. From young trustees, a young Co-CEO, young staff and Young Ambassadors to youth-led funds, youth consultations and young grant panelists; young people shape every decision we make. When we work with others, we encourage them to do this too.

Adults have been making decisions about children and young people's lives without their input for too long - and we still haven't solved the challenges young people are facing. We're here to change that.

By demonstrating what is possible when young people have a voice, we're creating a Manchester where all children and young people can meaningfully shape the future of their city, and the services that exist for them and their communities.
2. We Build a Strong and Connected Sector

Through our membership offer we support over 120 non-profit youth and play organisations to enhance their work, develop together, build capacity and celebrate their impact.

Every day our members are supporting and empowering tens of thousands of children and young people across Manchester, providing safe spaces with supportive adults that young people can trust.

We're building a youth and play sector in Manchester that is strong, vibrant and sustainable, supporting all children and young people to to be happy, healthy, safe and realising their full potential.
3. We Resource High Quality Youth and Play Opportunities

We work in partnership with funders and organisations with resource who want to support youth opportunities. We support them to design their programmes and develop their ideas, drawing on insight from our members to increase the volume and quality of provision for our children and young people, ensuring it meets need where it is greatest.

We're supporting the creation of a Manchester where all children and young people, regardless of their background or life circumstances, have access to outstanding opportunities.
4. We Influence Investment, Policy and Practice to Support Our Shared Vision

We build and maintain strong relationships with partners locally, regionally and nationally to keep them connected to the real local challenges facing young people in Manchester. In turn, we work together to influence investment, policy and practice to support work towards our shared vision.

We're working to make Manchester a city for all children and young people, where the benefits of economic growth are experience by all.

Read our Cultural Competency Pledge

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Meet the Team

Our Team Our Board

Samuel Remi-Akinwale

CEO

Samuel is a young person that’s eager to help and support everyone he can. Having earned a Politics degree from King's College London, he is excited to continue his academic journey exploring public policy and the philosophy of political economy.

Samuel currently manages a small production collective called Creation Foundation, dedicated to hosting honest conversations and authentic content and is also working on an anthology of stories of young people who have had challenges accessing higher education due to the UK’s immigration policies, prefaced with policy analysis and suggestions
Emma Sims

Head of Development & Partnerships

Emma joined Young Manchester in January 2022, bringing over 8 years of experience in partnerships, impact and strategic communications from her career in the charity sector. Prior to this, Emma held roles at a number of national charities including the Together Coalition; Step Up To Serve - the charity that co-ordinated the #iwill campaign; the Community Transport Association and National Union of Students.

Originally from York, Emma spent five blissful years in the North West, studying Politics and Policy at the University of Liverpool; as Vice President at Liverpool Guild of Students and working in Manchester before venturing to London for 3 years. She returned to Manchester in 2020 and is glad to be back up north.

Emma is a Trustee at UCLan Students' Union, and spends her spare time pickling vegetables, going to gigs (pandemic allowing), and admiring her cat, Mildred.
Rachel Garbutt

Head of Operations and Youth Programmes

Rachel has worked in the third sector for the past 9 years, and is passionate about centring the voices of the most excluded. Prior to joining Young Manchester, Rachel worked with Save the Children UK supporting the Children’s Communities project, a local systems change initiative that aimed to improve outcomes for children, young people and families through capacity building and collaboration. Prior to this Rachel was Volunteer Coordinator for Manchester International Festival 2019, working with over 500 incredible volunteers.

Rachel first gained experience working with young people through volunteer roles with ReachOut and the British Red Cross, and later as programme manager of the HeadStart programme at The Challenge where she supported young people to gain access to social action opportunities.

Originally from Doncaster, Rachel relocated to Manchester in 2008 to study Politics and International Relations at the University of Manchester, and has loved living here ever since!
Brigitta Appiah Darko

Grants and Partnerships Officer

Bri is a dedicated advocate for change and empowerment. As a recent graduate with a degree in French and Italian, her journey in making a difference began as a Displaced Person Liaison Manager for a small charity. Here, Bri wholeheartedly supported refugees and asylum seekers, driven by her belief that no one should ever feel alone in their struggles.
 
Fluency in five languages has allowed Bri to connect with diverse communities and bridge cultural gaps, underlining her commitment to understanding and celebrating differences.
 
Passionate about inclusion and representation, in 2020, Bri launched BreahhCreates, a creative platform that champions Black women in the card industry. It's a reflection of Bri's deep-seated commitment to amplifying voices that deserve recognition.
 
In her role in grants and partnerships, Bri is excited to bring my diverse experiences to the table, working collaboratively to create opportunities and drive meaningful change.
Liv Clarke

Project Coordinator

Liv is a young changemaker from Fallowfield, Manchester. Before joining Young Manchester, Liv has worked with both local and international organisations. In her most recent role at Ashoka, Liv worked to connect international organisations with young people across Greater Manchester. Alongside her role at Young Manchester, Liv is also reading Education at Manchester Metropolitan University - motivated by a passion to change the education system.

Outside of Young Manchester, Liv is an award-winning young changemaker and has influenced local and national policy. This has included working with the Greater Manchester Combined Authority to create OurPass, a free bus pass for 16-18-year-olds in Greater Manchester. More recently, Liv was appointed trustee of RECLAIM in July 2022, an organisation she has been working with for 10 years.

Liv is excited to bring her wealth of experience and passion to build a fairer system for young people and young Mancunians. She is passionate about delivering change and addressing the systemic inequalities that disadvantage young people.
Hasaan Mohammad Amin

Project Coordinator

Hasaan is a born-and-bred Mancunian raised in South Manchester. Before joining Young Manchester, he held various positions in small charities and large membership organisations. He has a wealth of experience from these positions and is excited to use this knowledge to build a more equal Manchester.

In his role with Young Manchester, Hasaan is working to deliver our flagship Young Ambassador programme and embed youth voices within our projects and funding streams. Most recently, Hasaan has worked on the Keeping Children and Young People Safe Project, in which he distributed funding with Children In Need to local community youth-led safety initiatives.

Hasaan's professional experience is extensive, with links to multiple partnership organisations nationwide. Alongside his work at Young Manchester, Hasaan has published research on youth work, COVID-19 and young people's participation. He will bring a wealth of experience to enrich, engage and ensure young people in Manchester have access to opportunities regardless of their background.
Megan Powell

Business Operations Officer

Megan is a young professional who has over 4 years experience in the VCSE sector across the UK. Prior to joining Young Manchester, Megan was working for the Citizens Advice Bureau supporting those in debt and facing financial insecurity. Megan is passionate about ensuring young people have a seat at the table.

In Megan's spare-time she enjoys reading, illustrating and spending time with her golden retriever Heidi.

Roukagia Afan

Co-Chair

Roukagia is a 20 year-old Manchester-based law student and award-winning activist.

She is passionate about diversity and amplifying the voices of young people and women from ethnic minority backgrounds, to provide them with access routes into leadership positions in our society.

For many years, Roukagia has been pursuing her passion of social justice and change with youth and women’s NGOs in the city and nationwide. She has worked with various charities, organisations and individuals including Mayor Andy Burnham, former Speaker John Bercow and MEPs from the European Parliament. Her work includes representing, advocating and campaigning for young people’s and women’s voices to be heard in the UK’s decision making.
Sarah Klueter

Co-Chair

Sarah is part of the leadership team at Wythenshawe Community Housing Group, a social landlord committed to place-based regeneration. As Assistant Director of Community Investment and Regeneration, Sarah leads community centre, youth, employment and enterprise teams investing £3.5million each year in South Manchester.

Sarah began her career in Corporate Banking, moving on to become Senior Community Investment Manager at the Co-op, where she developed and led award-winning investment programmes. Previous directorships have included Chair of The Co-operative Loan Fund and a Director of Industrial Common Ownership Finance.

In 2018, Sarah was seconded as Interim Chief Executive Officer for Young Manchester for six months to support the set-up of the charity.
Dan Lawes

Co-Deputy Chair

Dan is a 19-year-old award-winning activist from Manchester and a student at LSE. He is the Chief Executive of YouthPolitics UK, a national, youth-led and non-profit organisation dedicated to empowering the next generation through democratic engagement.

Dan has been an ambassador of the #iWill Campaign since 2017. He is a strong believer in the power of young people and their ability to make social change.

Dan is also a member of the Bank of England Youth Forum. In 2019, he was one of 20 young leaders from across the world to be awarded the Princess Diana Legacy Award for his services to young people – the highest award a young person can receive for their humanitarian efforts.
Simone Spray

Co-Deputy Chair

Simone is the Chief Executive of 42nd Street, a respected and inspiring young people’s mental health charity based in Manchester. The charity promotes young person centred support and creativity to 1000’s of young people from across Greater Manchester each year who need some help with their emotional wellbeing and mental health. Having worked with children, young people, families and communities for over 20 years, she previously held roles at Save the Children and Keep Britain Tidy.
Craig Barratt

Treasurer

Craig is the Finance Director, and part of the executive leadership team at urbanbubble, a multi-awarding winning, national residential property specialist based in Manchester’s Northern Quarter

Craig began his career at Bruntwood, where he spent 15 years supporting the company’s mission to create thriving cities, latterly as Operations Finance Director. Prior to his current role, he operated as Finance Director in Unify, an ESG-led facilities maintenance business.
James O'Farrell

James has been working in the youth sector for the past 20 years including five years as a a partner and member of Young Manchester . Currently responsible for leading Groundwork Greater Manchester’s offer to young people, he has a passion for youth empowerment, social action and long- lasting meaningful support leading to positive outcomes for all young people.
Furqan Naeem

Furqan Naeem is an award-winning campaigner, community organiser and philanthropist with a passion to bring communities together to strive for social justice. He was born and raised in Manchester and currently works as a Community Organiser for Citizens UK. He is also an Equalities Lead Board Member at Our Forum Manchester and a Trustee of Manchester Central Foodbank.

For over a decade Furqan has worked with the Princes Trusts’ Mosaic initiative, inspiring young people to achieve their goals. During the aftermath of the Manchester Arena Bombing in 2017, Furqan worked with young people of all faiths and none to build around common self-interests. Furqan was previously a trustee at Muslim Youth Helpline, a Young Ambassador for the Global Poverty Project and in 2013 was the recipient of the Malcolm X Young Persons award for excellence at the Muslim News Awards.

Furqan believes every young person in Manchester should have the opportunities to fulfil their ambitions no matter what their background or circumstance and wants to strive to make Manchester the best place to live and grow for any young person
Bounty Vegah

Bounty is currently studying for a Masters degree in International Tourism and Hospitality Management, and is interested in a career in Destination Marketing/Management and cultural events.

He feels he was very fortunate to be able to access youth activities in the city which opened his eyes to many opportunities around his community and wants to continue to grow these opportunities for other children and young people.

He wants to work to ensure that young people are not only empowered with experiences but also given opportunities to develop useful skills for the future.
Jodie McNally

Jodie is Interim CEO and Head of Programmes & Regions at the EY Foundation, a charity that tackles the barriers to employment faced by young people from low income backgrounds. She has worked predominantly in the social sector for the past 19 years and is passionate about developing the employability skills of young people through employer led/supported initiatives.