Pitch 4 Change Birmingham

Birmingham Envision teams are getting ready to pitch their social action projects to a panel of top business and community leaders for the chance of winning up to £500.

The panel of business dragons are:

• Anthony McCourt: Director, The Cube
• Kashif Mehboob: Envision Grad and Co-operative Youth Advisory Panel Member
• Simon Jenner: Head of Incubation, Birmingham Science Park Aston
• Sarah Brent: Development Manager, UnLtd
• Mark Broughton: Planning Director, Life Agency

And pitching their ideas for social action are:

Joseph Chamberlain College – Street Talk
Street Talk are concerned about the crime levels, especially youth crime, in Birmingham and their local area. They are fed up of seeing the same tag lines and government initiatives to reduce youth crime without ever consulting young people. They state that they see these problems first hand and could have some good suggestions to why youth crime might occur in the first place and how to stop it.

They plan to produce a documentary which will raise awareness of youth crime from a youth perspective and offer suggestions as to why it comes about in the first place and ways to solve it. “We are always told that young people are committing crimes, but we are never listened to when they are making plans to try and reduce it.”

King Edwards VI Camp Hill Girls – Planet People
Planet People intend to create a miniature vegetable allotment in a local primary school near with the aim of informing younger children about the benefits of growing your own food, the ecological benefits and how they can have fun growing and maintaining their produce, and at the same time learning to eat healthily. They hope they can also incorporate a mural designed by the primary school students as a dedication to the schools community. They plan on ensuring the project is sustainable by setting up a gardening society within the school who willcontinue the scheme

Hodgehill School - 9 Teen
The 9 Teen project’s main aim is to bridge the gap between young and elderly people. They plan to link with a local elderly care home, spend time with the residents and swap various skills. They then plan on holding an event in collaboration with the home – a community event with the aim of inspiring local residents to volunteer their time to make the care home a better place to live.

King Edwards VI Handsworth – The Aid Team
The Aid Team’s vision is to improve public services. They plan to do this by improving the atmosphere and environment of a children’s ward/waiting area in a local hospital by re-decorating it with the advice of the children at the hospital.

Small Heath – Sk8 Park Crew
Skate Park Crew would like to bring about a positive change in their community and benefit both young people and other local residents. Their aim is to clean up and renovate a local skate park in Bordesley Green which is currently dull and disused. By doing this they hope to reduce crime, give young people something to do and give some pride back too the community by showing people do care about the area.

If you'd like to attend this year's Pitch4Change contact Cameron at cameron@envision.org.uk or call 0121 7731 598