Episode Transcript
[00:00:25] Speaker A: Welcome, everyone, to a very special Christmas episode of the Dealmaker Uncut podcast with Alvarez and Marcel. I'm Jonathan Boyers and I'm flying solo today without my usual co host, Chris McGuire.
He's away doing something much more important.
I'm absolutely delighted today to be sitting down with Adam Fariker, who's the CEO of Empower Youth Zones, which basically runs the Hideout Youth Zone in Manchester and the Salford Youth Zone. Now, as a trustee of this frankly incredible charity, and with Alvarez and Marcel as proud patrons, among many other proud patrons across the city of Manchester, I've had the privilege of seeing firsthand the transformational impact that this organisation has on young people across Greater Manchester.
And, Adam, I have to say that you are a deal maker in your own right, negotiating with donors year after year and securing the vital funding that keeps these youth zones thriving. And also, as we'll see as we go through, developing just a really fantastic organisation. And it just feels like at Christmas it's a great time just to explore this, what I think is an amazing organisation and in particular, Adam and your background. So, Adam, welcome to the Dealmaker Uncut.
[00:01:55] Speaker B: Jonathan, thank you for having me. Thanks very much.
[00:01:58] Speaker A: I think it might just be worth starting right at the beginning with your background, because I think you've got an interesting backstory and route into this job, so maybe you could just talk about where you came from.
[00:02:10] Speaker B: So I grew up in a neighbourhood called Longsight in central Manchester, which was back then and still is, one of the most deprived neighbourhoods across the uk, not just in the city, but in terms of childhoods, had a normal, happy childhood for the first 10 years.
Lived with my mum and dad. My dad was a welder from Glasgow. We'd moved there many years, years before.
My mum had various jobs. She was born and raised in Dublin, so a big, big Irish Scottish family, like most of the families in that part of Manchester at the time.
But, yeah, primary school was great, was confident and did well at school, was involved in various sports, had plenty of friends in the local community, in the local neighborhood.
And then when I was about 9 or 10, can't remember the exact age, my mum and dad split up. So that. That kind of changed things a little bit, changed the dynamics of family life.
My mum left my dad, she moved away with somebody else and moved to another area of Manchester called Gorton, which was literally the neighbourhood that was a. A mile or so up the road from Longsight, another really kind of challenging, deprived neighbourhood. And I think at that point, that's when things, for Me started changing.
The transition to high school was quite difficult.
Struggled with my self esteem, my confidence anxiety, which kind of manifested into anger issues, a lot of lashing out. Struggled with that transition of being in a small primary school and all my friends and, and people locally to this big new school and not knowing as many people.
I moved to Gordon with my mum and her new partner. And so that transition between what I knew and those changes, it kind of. There was a lot happening at the time.
And then I think like most children and young people, once you start going through puberty and adolescence, you struggling with your identity and who you are. And I think I started at that time, started becoming more socially aware of some of the issues and the negative influences and challenges that were going on in the community. There was a lot of crime, a lot of drugs, a lot of mental health issues, a lot of unemployment. And again, like with all my friends, some of them still, still friends with, now a couple of them work in the youth home with me, we didn't really know any different, so we were all kind of misfits and oddballs. Didn't. Didn't have any money between us, you know, but we were all the same. So it was, it was kind of no different, but started to become a little bit more vulnerable to negative influences as we were growing up because there was, there was adults in the local community that were preying on vulnerable young children. So yeah, without going to too much detail in that area, I started to kind of struggle in my mid to late teens around those issues. And that's where I first come across my first youth worker.
And they were. This particular youth worker is what's called a detached youth worker, which means they're out on the streets. So, you know, we weren't going into youth centers or different neighborhoods because there was a lot of territorial issues for young people at that time, around our age. So the youth service in Manchester had detached youth workers that would go into the estates and go into, you know, into neighbourhoods on the streets and try and engage young people where they were, when they were. And that was my first experience of youth work really, which that was more beneficial to me, the youth work uni, which I ended up going on than school. I struggled in school.
[00:05:20] Speaker A: Okay, so you were the recipient of youth workers sort of care, if you like.
And so you ultimately then decided to move into a career in youth working. Do you want to talk about how that.
[00:05:34] Speaker B: Yeah, again, I think it was that evolution and the next steps of being a participant in youth activities or that youth work Relationship with those youth workers.
That kind of. It was, it was that relationship and that trust I'd built with one particular youth worker, Tanya. Tanya Di Sankwa.
She. She recognized and saw potential in me that nobody else did. Not just me, but there was, there was three or four peers, three of my friends that lived in the same area. And her rhetoric was that we were quite influential and had very strong leadership skills and ability. But we weren't necessarily using that in a positive way, we were using that in a negative way. And if we were to flip that and use those skills and that, that ab.
Influence other people in the community that we could do something really positive in, in terms of we could take over what she was doing and run some of the youth provision and she knew we would get loads of young people involved and be able to do stuff that she couldn't do what she'd already in our eyes, been doing for many years with us. So it was, it wasn't kind of career choice. We kind of just. Well, me, I fell into it. It was. There was nothing else available to me at the time.
Went to college for a few weeks to do it.
God knows why I did that. Fell out of college and went back to college a couple of months later and did fashion and textiles. Met my wife, who I'm still with now but never got a qualification. Dropped out of that.
So yeah, there was. I didn't really know what opportunities were available to me and there was no kind of family or social connections or people kind of showing me opportunities or didn't kind of have that network of people who could, you know, we could probably now, if our children or grandchildren wanted to do something, we'd know somebody who knows somebody who can have a conversation or pick up the phone. And I didn't have. So it was kind of like youth work was my only option or the only thing that was potentially put in front of me at that time, which ended up being a blessing because I've had a 20 year career. It's the best thing I've ever done.
[00:07:30] Speaker A: You're a natural asset, aren't you?
[00:07:31] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:07:33] Speaker A: So you got yourself a career in youth work and then. I think we'll fast forward now to the youth zone.
One of the, you know, I'd heard about the, the youth zones.
Lots of people talked to me about them, but it wasn't until I actually visited them that I understood they're great facilities for young people to enjoy, but they are also, they're also the basis of what is now the youth service of greater Manchester, isn't it? And I think it would be worth you just explaining for people who might not be familiar with the youth zones, what Empower Youth Zone is and what it's all about.
[00:08:15] Speaker B: Yeah. So if I start with where we're at right now, Empower Youth Zones is essentially, it's an award winning youth work charity based in Greater Manchester. And we have two state of the art youth zones dedicated just for children, young people. The first one, Hideout Youth Zone, which we opened back in September 2020, is located in Garton East Manchester, the neighbourhood where I've just mentioned I grew up. And there's a story behind that as well. And then the second one, we were proud and excited to say that we opened in July, earlier this year in Pendleton, right in the centre of Salford, and that's known as Salford Youth Z.
But we provide children and young people aged 8 to 19 or up to 25 if they've got additional needs, simply with somewhere safe to go, something positive to do and someone trusted to talk to seven days a week all year round. The facilities, as you'll know well, are unbelievable. These are not, you know, don't be thinking of a youth center, what you're probably picturing in your head and what you might have experienced as a young person growing up. These are state of the art, you know, multi million pound facilities with, you know, gyms in it, music, recording studios, podcast studios, media suites, health and well being rooms which are kitted out, barbershops and hair and beauty salons. We've got paddle courts, football courts, sports halls, indoor climbing walls, anything that you would think a young person would want to do in their leisure or in their own time, that we have it.
[00:09:35] Speaker A: Under that roof, you actually need to go and see, because I can try.
[00:09:39] Speaker B: And describe it and articulate it, but everybody tells us until you've walked through the door and you experience it yourself. And if you can come and see it when there's young people in the building, because that brings it to life, you'll be inspired. It's unlike anything you can think of. But what's more important than the facilities in the building is the staff, the youth workers, the volunteers, the mentors, the coaches that bring that to life.
Because the facilities and the activities mean nothing without that trusting relationship and without that youth worker who's looking out for these young people and boosting their confidence and their self esteem.
[00:10:11] Speaker A: Yeah, and it might just be talk about why it matters this effectively, it replaced the youth service in Greater Manchester, so it might be worth just talking about some of the safeguarding issues.
[00:10:24] Speaker B: Yeah, I think of it as well, if I go back to just going back to my career again, not to kind of go into a long story, but once I started, I took over the youth projects that my youth worker had started with us. I started off a few hours a week doing volunteering. Within six months we became a paid, a paid youth worker on 10 hour a week contract, something like that, 15 hours a week. And that was for Manchester Youth Service which was part of the council's youth service at the time. So probably for 10 years, nine to 10 years I had different opportunities, climb the ladder within Manchester Youth Service. And then in 2010 the National Government cuts, budget budget cuts come in and youth services were disseminated, you know, within a year right across the country. It results in like half a billion pounds worth of investment. Over four and a half thousand youth work jobs across the country went in Manchester particularly. We had a youth service with 15 youth centers across the city, 250 professionally qualified staff to at least level three but majority degree level qualified youth workers and a budget of about 50 million pound a year. That was in 2010. The decision was taken to disestablish the youth service. By the end of 2011 we had no youth centres, six qualified youth workers left in the council and a budget of 2 and a half million pounds which is now still to this day used for commissioning and grant funding, youth and play services across the city. So you can imagine the, the impact that had at the time, but what he's still having now, we're still seeing the, the negative results of that decision 10, 12 years later.
So yeah, so at that time the council moved away from being a delivery of youth service to a commissioner and I was one of those commissioners, ended up being head, head of the youth department a few years later and was responsible for that funding across the city.
But the types of issues that's now created is that there's been a gap and a vacuum in those youth work, trusting relationships for young people outside of school, which has resulted in that gap being replaced by other negative influences across the city. So you know, things like organized crime, youth violence, antisocial behavior. But the biggest safeguarding issue that we have in the youth zones day to day and week to week is mental health and well being.
Some of that isn't, you know, about poverty or crime. It relates to all children, young people now spending more time in the bedrooms and being on devices and increasing issues around loneliness and self isolation. And that can be, it doesn't matter your household income that's affecting our children and young people. So it's a real gap in social, real face to face interactions now with young people. And of course they're the soft skills that you need to go on and be a successful adult, whether that's education or employment. So one of the things we're trying to do as well is yes, tackle the more complex safeguarding issues around the vulnerabilities of children, particularly in disadvantaged communities. But it's also about getting all children and young people into a physical environment and developing those communication skills whilst having fun, whilst being safe, whilst providing them with a warm facility and food in the belly at no cost. But it's really about developing their social and personal confidence and self esteem so they can go on to be successful in future life.
[00:13:33] Speaker A: A lot of people watching this won't realise the change that happened in the youth service. I mean we're talking about Manchester, but the same will have happened all over the country where the youth service provision was withdrawn.
Young people were vulnerable to all sorts of poor influences and operations like the Youth Zone provide like a sanctity really to sanctuary to these young people, to meet each other and to learn new skills and to get warm food. I mean, the two that we're talking about in, in Manchester are both in high levels of youth poverty as well.
[00:14:13] Speaker B: Gorton and Pendleton are in the top 10% most deprived communities in the UK.
So to put that into context, the national average numbers of children and young people now below the age of 18 across the England and Wales, across the UK actually is 30% of children living below the poverty line. In Manchester that figures 49% and in Salford it's 43%. So significantly disproportionate levels of child poverty in the city when compared to the national average. But what's even scarier is when you drill down into those particular neighborhoods, G and Long site and the surrounding wards, it's as high as 70%. That's like 2, 2/3 or 3/4 of the children we're working with that are struggling to, to meet their basic day to day human needs. Whether that's having a warm bath or a shower, putting the heating on at this time of year, knowing when the next hot meal is coming from and the pressure that that then creates on parents and carers and the wider family creates another issue around mental health and well being and depression and anxiety and it's just a vicious circle which, which is stemmed from poverty.
So what we do is, you know, the membership of the Youth Zone is Free. They don't have to pay to join the youth zone. It's 50p a visit. So when they arrive, as long as they remember, they pay 50p subs at that reception and they can stay for as long as they want or as little as they want, engaging all of the activities. As soon as they pay the 50p, that's it, there's no more cost. And we provide a hot meal for every single child who walks through the door, which has resulted in the last year alone, the last 12 months, we've provided over 60,000 hot meals due to the great support that we get from our donors and patrons across the city.
And then in the school holidays, we provide holiday club provision. So it's from 8am to 5pm every day. So again, parents and carers can drop off child at 8 in the morning. They're getting breakfast, they're getting positive, safe activities all day, they're getting dinner and tea, going home tired, hopefully, but in a positive mindset as well. And again, it takes that pressure off families, particularly those who might be on free school meals during school time when they're on school holidays, there's that additional pressure again.
[00:16:05] Speaker A: So, I mean, it just means like parents who might have had to decide between putting the heating on on a cold night, like the middle of the middle of December, or feeding, feeding the children a hot meal can do both. Because.
[00:16:20] Speaker B: I'm not exaggerating, they're genuinely the issues that we're facing and in the fastest are growing economy outside of London, which we should be proud of, at Greater Manchester's economic success and its continued success. When you look at who benefits the most from that and who benefits the least, we need to make sure that when we're talking about growth, it is inclusive and it is growth for good. So we're doing it. I think we're doing a great job of building the foundations of what that looks like with the partnerships we've got with the local authority, local government and with the city's private and business sector as well.
[00:16:51] Speaker A: Yeah. And there are youth zones all over the country doing similar. Similar things.
[00:16:56] Speaker B: Yeah. So we're part of a wider network of youth zones called the Onside Network of you Zones. So Onside you Zones is a separate charity that's a national charity who basically designed the DNA and the model of. Of youth zones. But we are all completely separate independent charities. There is 16 open youth zones now, with another four due to open in the next couple of months. There's four in London, there's one as far as Carlisle, they're in Yorkshire, but the majority are concentrated in and around the Northwest. We are the only youth's home charity at the moment that's got two youths homes under the one charity.
[00:17:29] Speaker A: So, I mean, I'm really impressed with everything I've seen. Like I say, when I first heard about it I was thinking youth clubs. But when you understand the importance of the youth service that's provided here, it might just be worth talking about fundraising.
You built some incredible partnerships really with both the local authorities in Manchester and more recently in Salford.
But people like Fred Doane, I mean, Fred's been a major donor to the group and there's a whole load of other patrons like A and M and other people. But maybe you could just talk about.
Because it is the dealmaker, there is some deal making involved here and, and I've seen it firsthand. So could you just talk about fundraising?
[00:18:21] Speaker B: Yeah, well, I can start with the Fred Doan story and how that come about. So I first met Fred going back to. It would have been the summer 2016 now. So coming up to 10 years ago now, he'd been doing a deal, he's a deal maker as well as, you.
[00:18:37] Speaker A: Know, he's probably with Fred Doane is obviously the founder, the founder of Fred.
[00:18:43] Speaker B: Soulboy, Domus, many, many other companies, but best known for being. Being the founder of Betfred.
But he'd, he'd had a business meeting arranged with a guy called Dave Whelan, who's Mr. Wigan and one of the biggest investors in, in a number of businesses in Wigan, but the sport, the football club, the rugby, etc. And he was the major donor at Wigan youth zone. So there's one of these youth zones in the, in the town centre of Wigan and he was, had a business meeting with Fred and had invited Fred to come and see this, this youth zone, this youth center. And Fred tells the story in that he'd already kind of made an excuse in his head of why he was going to leave after half an hour because it was night time, it was cold, it was a winter's night. He wasn't really interested in seeing this youth center, but he went anyway out of respect for Dave. And he, when he got there, he was just blown away and he stayed for a full three hour session.
And what really inspired him wasn't necessarily the building, it was the staff and the volunteers and the young people and talking to them about the impact that that was having on their lives, but also on the town of Wigan. And he went away and it played on his mind for a few weeks. He was speaking to his late wife Mo around that, you know, she, she encouraged him to, to do something about it. So he, he will say he marched into the town hall in Manchester and knocked onto Howard Bernstein's door who was the chief exec at the time and said what he saw, he talked about what he saw in Wigan. Wasn't aware that there was already a youth zone in North Manchester as well. So Howard was very aware of the youth's or model but wanted to do, do one and he would, he would back it, he would fund it. He just wanted to know how, how we would go about doing that. So at the time I was head of youth youth strategy within the council. So Howard sent it down, down the chain to me and I went and I met Fred and his representative Joel Whittaker who up until a few months ago was the chair of Empower USOne. She was the chair of board of trustees.
Yeah, she's now the chief executive of the Bet Fred group.
I met both of them in Garton on a winter rainy day because we'd identified already within the council that the area of highest need in the city was gone and there was a little or no youth provision in that area. Well, there was no youth provision in the area so it was about identifying the area of most need but where we would have most impact as well.
And it didn't take much selling to be honest. He was very aware of the neighborhood, he could see the poverty. I told him about the impacts that would have and why Gorton would be the place that we would do it, how much it would cost and that we could potentially bring on side in to develop one of these youth zones.
We went away and worked with a small project team with himself and then a couple of months later he agreed that he was going to donate 6 million pound capital towards that project. I then had to convince the politicians within, within the town hall and the council that we needed another one and a half million from the, from the council. And remember, you know, there's no youth budget for this. There's no money in the youth budget. We, that had to be found from, from elsewhere.
But they committed to it because they didn't want to turn down 6 million pound of investment in children, young people in the city from, from, from Fred. The challenge then at that point was these things at that time cost 1.5 million pound a year to run. We now need to run a successful founder patron campaign and get as many other businesses high net worth individuals, corporates involved to support this going forward. And I think that wasn't just about the funding but the opportunities and the relationships and the partnerships that that could create.
So that's how Hideout began.
We established the Chariteer 2017.
We opened Hideout Youth Zone. We actually got the keys to the facility on 23rd March 2020 at 12pm and at 8pm, Boris the Prime Minister announced lockdown. It was the first national lockdown the same day. So we went straight into crisis mode. It was a mad few hours and then a mad few weeks, but we just stuck to what we could do rather than what we couldn't do and we managed to get the place open in September 2020 and, and we've now this year surpassed 10,000 members since we opened and obviously opened our second youth zone as well. So that's how it was initially started.
[00:22:43] Speaker A: It's probably worth talking about that. So the initial Hideout Youth Zone in Gorton was set up and up and running and then a proposal came along to, well, should we open a second one in Salford?
[00:22:57] Speaker B: Well, I think the priority was getting Hideout open, engaging as many young people as we could. We engaged 4,000 children, young people within the first year. Despite the lockdown and despite the restrictions, we managed to secure 28 founder patrons which you know, range from a very, very diverse group of businesses and high net worth individuals in Manchester, but some of the biggest employers in the city. So we, we knew that we had a sustainable offer at that point. We had a great network of patrons and supporters who were then working for us as well to encourage other people to get involved because they saw the impact. And again, it comes back to fre the relationship that we developed with Fred. He was heavily involved in what we do not to get involved just because he loved it. The kids call him Uncle Fred. He'd come down, he'd, he'd get involved in what the children people were doing and speak to them and want to hear about the impact it was having.
And he said to me if, if we realized the impact and the outcomes that I was saying we were going to achieve at that point, he would always want to do one in his hometown of Salford where he was born and bred and still lives, never left.
If I'm honest, I didn't think it would be 18 months after opening Hideout he come back and said let's do it. But he did.
And yeah, we spoke to the town hall in Salford straight away, got the support from the city mayor and director level SLT at the city council were on board and it's been like pushing open doors ever since. And I think Fred committed another large capital contribution to the Salford project. Domus, the construction company that he owns, have built it at cost.
Both youth zones, they did both use zones at cost.
And yeah, it was his influence but through the relationship that we'd created with him that kind of drove that forward for a second one to happen in Salford.
[00:24:39] Speaker A: The Salford Local Authority was really heavily involved in that as well. So there was a need to go and get a source of funding. They are now one of the biggest public funders now they're bigger than Manchester.
[00:24:52] Speaker B: Yeah. So it was the same deal as Manchester City Council. It was one and a half million pounds capital contribution, the land for free. Find us a site and give us the land for free on 125 year lease and then revenue contribution for at least the first five years. So Salford City Council give us a strategic grant as do Manchester City Council.
And I think one of the things that sets us apart from other youth work charities is not just the amount. So 80% of our revenue income comes from private sector, which is unheard of, but it's also the length of time that they commit. So it's to be a patron, it's a minimum commitment of four years which allows us as a charity to plan ahead. And when you're working with vulnerable children and young people, you want to commit to them, you don't want to make false promises. So being able to plan ahead for that period of time really helps as a charity. So we're not chasing year to year hand to mouth grants from the council or Children in Need or big trusts and funds.
[00:25:43] Speaker A: So how many children, young people do we have coming through the doors that then.
[00:25:48] Speaker B: So we've, we've now surpassed 15,000 members across both sites.
So Sulfur Juice Home, for example, the target was to reach 3,000 young people by the end of the first year. We're six months in and we've just surpassed 5,000 members. So far exceeding where I thought we would be at this point, which just shows the need, the need in, in Salford and in places like that. But on average we're probably working with around 7,000 active young people per year now across the two sites. And on any given night you can get upwards of, of 150 to 160 children and young people in the youth zone every night. So easily over a thousand visits a week.
[00:26:23] Speaker A: And like I say, we've said already, these are life changing, life changing opportunities for young people to be part of this community. And they learn a whole new set of skills. They're protected to a degree that they can be.
So it's. I mean, I am, like I say, I'm really, really impressed with the way this operation works.
A and M. I went round and I was struck like Fred was when I first visited and I started to understand what was being offered here.
So A and M decided to become patrons. There are quite a number of the leading professional services firms across Manchester.
Our patrons, a number of other. In other sectors. Sectors.
There are a lot of leading firms who are patrons. But the money won't be there forever.
Fred's money won't be there forever. And there's a need to keep raising money.
And so to keep developing the operation, the business does need to keep raising funding. So I would encourage any business. There'll be a lot of business leaders watching this. A lot of professional services, senior partners will be looking at, watching this. I would say it's worth having a good look at either the use zones in Manchester or the local youth zones. Wherever in the country people are, it's a reward. We find that it's fulfilling because, I mean, I became a trustee because I was so taken by it. But from the office, we'll hold away days or off sites there. We have volunteering days where people, people from the teams go and do team building stuff together, help working with young people.
And the whole of our Manchester Office now has 120 people and it's an opportunity to bring that office together for the whole of the office to do something together as a community for the communities that we operate in.
So I can only urge people to look more closely at what's being done in these places.
What are your ambitions for the future for the Emperor Youth Zones and where's it going?
[00:28:44] Speaker B: I think for me it's solidifying and growing the quality of the offer at Hideout and at Salford Youth Zones, strengthening our relationships with the cities business sector, not just in terms of the funding that we need. So you're dead right, you know that the empower use on Turnover now is 4 million pound a year. You know, it's, it's not pennies, it's, it's extremely. It's a big operation. We've got over 150 staff ourselves. It's open seven days a week. These are big centers. We're open from 8am to 9pm every day. So it's a challenge to find that funding. So I think being sustainable long, long into the future, but it's, it's also about the relationships the pathways and the opportunities that we can create by bringing people like yourselves and some of the other businesses in the city to young people.
This isn't just doesn't make good ethical or moral sense, it makes economic sense. It's. It's a good business decision to get involved in what we're doing. These young people will be your future customers, will be your future employees, or even our future employers. You know, they've got so much potential and so much kind of talent. They just need that equal opportunity to realize that full potential. And I think if we can all work together as a city. I want to talk to earlier about that inclusive economic growth.
It's not just me with me begging bowl here saying, please, please feed the poor kids of garden and solve it. It's so much more than that. It makes business sense to do it. So if we can change the mindset and strengthen that, you know, for us, that will put us in a very, very strong position. As you know, we are now, I can confidently say, the biggest employer of youth workers in Greater Manchester. I want us to be. When you think of children and young people in Greater Manchester, in Manchester, in Salford, you think of us.
So for now, it's about doubling down, you know, sustaining the quality of what we deliver and those relationships and getting the right people around the table that support us and then we'll see where, where we end up in the next few years in so terms of whether we expand, whether we grow the offer, whether we can influence and support other amazing voluntary sector organisations that work in this space to get youth work back on the map as a profession that is needed and is important, not just a nice to have.
[00:30:51] Speaker A: So, I mean, I just love the idea of the business community coming together with the local authorities.
So, you know, there was a story where the youth service was cut a few years ago, but now we've got the business community coming together with the local authorities, with a really talented team who know everything there is to know about looking after children in this environment and bringing together as a city the wherewithal to develop these facilities. And, you know, I think that I don't understand why people wouldn't want to be, want to get involved. It's just an exciting thing.
[00:31:30] Speaker B: It's a very professional. We operate like a corporate organization. Well, that's what we are. We're a limited company with charitable status, but it's a very professional team. So our marketing and comms department can help your marketing and comms department celebrate your relationship with us. That in turn benefits you as an organization, as I said, we've probably got a network now of 50 of the biggest employers and investors and legal firms and private equity houses in the city. So by supporting us and working with us, you're also part of that network which creates business opportunities for users, businesses as well. So it's not just about, as I say, the poor kids of Manchester and Salford. It's about doing something to change and sustain the success of our cities. But it makes business sense as well, and there's opportunities that we can broker for you within that.
[00:32:13] Speaker A: So if somebody, if somebody out there is running a business, a professional services firm like ours wants to come, have a look around, perhaps see how they could get involved, what do they do?
[00:32:24] Speaker B: They can reach out to you, Jonathan, through the podcast, they can contact us, they can come on our website, you can email me directly if we can share that, those details through the podcast and we'll arrange for you to come in, have a tour of either Soul for Juvenile or Hideout Youth Zone. Or as you said, if it's about brokering a relationship or a visit to any of the youth owners around the country, whether you might have head offices or elsewhere, we can do that for you. But. But I promise you, I'll take two or three hours out of your evening or a weekend, you will not be disappointed and you will go away inspired with some thoughts about how you can support, even if it's not financially, at the level of a patron, but you will want to support in some way or see how we could support you in your day to day business.
[00:33:04] Speaker A: There's lots of ways that businesses can support the Youth Zone and vice versa, just even if simple things like volunteering days or things like that.
Right, that's.
Thank you.
Thank you for joining me today and thank you for the amazing work that you do across the Greater Manchester area every day for young people.
It's been an honour to hear your story. It's an honour to be even involved in a tiny little part as a trustee and to hear your vision for, for youth work in Manchester.
And like I say, I'd emphasise that these youth zones operate all over the country. And so it's not just whilst we're involved in the Greater Manchester one, it's actually all over the country.
That's all for this episode of the Dealmaker Uncut podcast powered by Alvarez and Marcel.
If you've been inspired by Adam's story, please do visit the Empower UK Own either website or get in touch with Adam or just arrange to go and see them to learn more about how you can support them.
Don't forget to subscribe to the podcast, tell your friends and family and follow us on social media. Next time we'll be back to more conventional deal making and I wish everybody a Merry Christmas. Thanks for joining me, Adam.
[00:34:30] Speaker B: Thank you for having me. Cheers. It.
