Pitch 4 Change Birmingham

This year's Pitch 4 Change was a huge success with all 5 Envision Teams receiving funding for their social action projects. The panel of Dragons were so impressed by the quality of the presentations that they awarded over £2000 to the Envision teams.

The five teams that pitched their projects to the panel were:

St Paul’s Girls School

The team from St Pauls are based close to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital where troops injured in action are treated. They plan to put together 'Good Will Packages'  and deliver them to the soliders recovering in hospital.

Update: The Team were awarded £150 upfront to aid their Christmas box project for Help the Heroes. The panel commended the fact they had tackled a controversial issue from the heart but asked to see more innovation in the contents of the box and the involvement of other people; businesses, retailers and other students at school. On these conditions, the girls would receive a further £150.

Joseph Chamberlain College

Calling themselves the Smarties the students from Joseph Chamberlain want to promote community cohesion within their school and the wider community. They plan on running an event based on the idea of a ‘life swap’ enabling young people to experience and better understand different cultures or traditions.

Update: The Smarties’ team members impressed the dragons with their passion and zest for their project on racism. The panel were also impressed with the teams’ ability to engage their audience. After celebrating this with an initial award of £150, they were promised a further £250 if they were able to widen the scope of the project, involving more of the community and local businesses. Keen to support the team as they develop their understanding of marketing strategy, Pauline Knott offered to be a mentor to the team.

Archbishop Ilsley School

The team from Archbishop Isley have created a campaign called Blink 123 which aims to raise awareness of human trafficking. They are planning to create a short documentary-style fim about a young child affected by trafficking in the UK.

Update: Blink 123 were awarded £250 upfront to spend solely on their documentary on Human Trafficking. The Dragons offered a further £235 if the team continue to develop their campaign in a way that will encourage and enable the public to take action on the issue. Dragon, Jess Moore also volunteered to mentor the team through this process as she has a particular passion and interest in the issue. 

King Edward VI Camp Hill Girls

The girls from Camp Hill have named their project Magic Beans and are planning to create a sensory garden in a local care home. They want to encourage the wider community to get involved as well thereby bringing people together who wouldn't normally meet.

Update: The Magic Beans team really wowed the judges with their plans for a sensory garden. The team were commended for their excellent and professional presentation skills and for their success working collectively. The panel loved the lasting legacy the project would leave; both for the school and for the care home. After being awarded £400, they were promised a further £100 if they were able to get other people involved, particularly local businesses. The panel also had some tips for minimising costs – the idea of a ‘bring a plant to school day’ which would minimise spending on seeds.

The Arthur Terry School

The team from Arthur Terry are calling themselves Piece and have come up with a series of activities which aim to encourage better interaction between generations. They believe that  by identifying sources of tensions and through improved communication they can be better intergenerational.

Update: The Piece Project was commended for its innovative and fresh thinking – and the idea of using Facebook was met with enthusiasm. The Dragons were so impressed they pushed the team to make a more detailed plan for their social media campaign to help the project reach a bigger and broader range of people. They too were awarded a whopping £400, with a further £100 banked in accordance with the developments the panel suggested.