Striding Out is now working with young people involved in the DCSF Youth Opportunity Fund and Youth Capital Fund programmes.

The overall aim of the Youth Opportunity and Youth Capital Funds is to improve the provision of positive activities for young people, by giving them the power to decide how this funding should be spent in their area. It is a catalyst for empowering young people to be local community leaders.

Our Take the Lead Coaching Programme aims to build the capacity of these young people, to become confident leaders, to enable them to effectively lead sustainable projects, communicate their views, make informed decisions, and build solid relationships with their peers in their local community.

The leadership coaching will enable young people to define their leadership style, skills, values, and it we will help them explore their future role and opportunities as a community leader, for example, joining other local decision-making panels, volunteering in local projects, seeking employment within the public or third sector, or starting their own social enterprise.

We are currently working with the Youth Opportunities Fund team in Birmingham City Council, with financial support from the Active Citizenship Programme, managed by Be Birmingham.

Striding Out will be delivering two programmes in 2010 to support young offenders re-engage back into society.

We will be delivering our Figuring Out career coaching programme, providing a combination of career coaching and work placement support to male young offenders aged 15-19 to give them clarity and direction on where they would like to take their career on leaving prision. This programme is being run in partnership with Catch 22, the national youth charity. We will link this programme into educational provision and our Future Jobs Fund programme.

We are also delivering our Take the Lead coaching programme to young female ex-offenders, working with the Youth Offending Teams in Liverpool and London. We will be providing a group of young people with coaching skills to mentor their peers to help them support each other during the transition period. This programme is being funded by Global Charities and V.

Striding Out has been commissioned by YPECOE to develop a Web Portal to support young people interested in enterprise and professionals/educators teaching enterprise to young people.  

The Young People's Enterprise Centre of Expertise (YPECOE) is a two-year project for the West Midlands, providing a coordinated approach to the promotion and development of young people’s enterprise across the region. Funded by Advantage West Midlands.

Striding Out will developing the content for the site, including online coaching and business tools, a resource directory, event calender, case studies, plus an area for reviewing best practice of different enterprise programmes and evaluation tools for the educators. The website is being created by Raising IT. The portal is due to launch February 2010.

The Social Pioneer programme is a leadership coaching programme for social entrepreneurs and their management team.  

The programme provides participants with:-

1. One to One Leadership Coaching and Specialist Support
2. Attendance on two or more of our Leadership Direction Workshops, covering pressing topics such as:-

• Evaluation & Monitoring of Outputs in Funding Bids
• Marketing & Branding your organisation
• Coaching Skills
• Funding Applications
• Ethics & Your Organisation
• Social Media & Your Organisation

The one to one coaching will help leaders achieve their vision and strategy for achieving personal and professional goals and overcoming challenges. Our coaching techniques and tools are tailored to meet your needs. 

The Leadership Direction Workshops will give leaders an opportunity to share goals, opportunities, challenges and solutions with their peers. During the workshops the leaders will learn how to understand and manage different leadership styles, nurture effective team working and adopt coaching tools and techniques for managing people.

Social Pioneers is open to all social entrepreneurs on a payable basis, however we currently having funding to cover participants costs in Merseyside and Hammersmith and Fulham in London

Find out more about Social Enterprise here

Hammersmith and Fulham, London 

Our Social Pioneer programme is being funded by Hammersmith and Fulham Local Authority, through the Generations Together Fund. 

We can provide free support to participants who meet the following eligibility criteria:-

• Resident or Business Registered in  Hammersmith and Fulham Local Authority.
• Are planning or recently started a social enterprise.
• To be contributing towards a social or environmental mission as their primary purpose of training. 

 FIND OUT MORE - email Megan Thomas This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

 We are also looking for mentors and team members to help support new social enterprises. 

Merseyside 

Our programme is being delivered in partnership with SEN to support social entrepeneurs in Merseyside between Nov - March 2010.

We can provide free support to participants who meet the Eligibility Criteria -

• To hold a Residential or Trading Address in Merseyside.
• To be have been trading for under 5 years
• To have an established social enterprise legal structure 
• To be contributing towards a social or environmental mission as their primary purpose of trading.

FIND OUT MORE  - email Ema Quinn at  This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or Simon Ireland- Davies at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

The Programme is funded by