On Friday 14th July, URBOND hosted Portsmouth's first ever Youth Awards event to shine a light on the outstanding young people of our city.
The event was put together to celebrate and award young people that would otherwise get overlooked because of their background or status.
We awarded young people on a number of qualities and areas of progression we have seen over the past year. The awards included: 'Best Team Player', 'Leadership Award', 'Work Experience Award' and more. We awarded 10 young people under URBOND’s Youth Development Programme but, in addition, dedicated an award to 6 other youth provisions in Portsmouth which included Motiv8, Play Youth Community, BYAC, Pompey in the Community, Music Fusion, Young Creatives.
The Youth Development Programme is working to drive opportunities, wellness and success for young people and their future and is addressing prevalent issues in the city such as youth crime, obesity, low literacy rates and unemployment. A programme designed to support young people and provide them with the best opportunity to fulfil their potential (particularly those within settings where issues such as crime, etc are prevalent).
Sarah Roads at SLR Marine Recruit, the event’s headline sponsor said “SLR Recruitment was so delighted to headline the URBOND Youth Awards. We champion all the great work that URBOND is doing with our younger generations in the city, providing so many outlets to be part of a community and express themselves from sports to music and dance. The pride in all the children was obvious, not only for themselves but for their friends. SLR Marine Recruitment is really looking forward to working with URBOND in the future and supporting as much as we can.”
Congratulations to the award winners: Aidan Law (Best Role Model), Alfie Sibley (URBOND Award), Aston Dennison (Best Helper), Bobby Shimmon (Motiv8), Brandon Smith (BYAC), Charlie Emsley (Best Team Player), Curtis Agha (Work Experience), Elijah Maketo (Outstanding Creativity), Ingrid Souza Correa (Outstanding Visionary), Joy Okechekwu (Outstanding Leadership), Keira Delahay (Most Improved), Leon Hoepfner (Music Fusion), Lexie Johnston (Pompey in the Community), Oliver Sadler (The Young Creatives), Owen Ellwood (Play Youth Community), Shaneia Ford (Community Engagement)