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| Who is SAY? 
SAY is Serious About Youth. We are a youth focused organisation based in London (UK). SAY was founded in 2008 with the aim to inspire, guide and support young people to gain the life and social skills needed to live fulfilling lives and progress successfully in the ‘real world’. We strongly believe that traditional academic subjects must be complemented with education in ‘life’ skills to form well-rounded young adults. In fact, young people themselves agree! In the ground breaking report, the Young Citizens' Action Agenda issued to the Government in December 2008, the young people surveyed said they want to be taught life skills and society tells us that they need it.
Serious About Youth (SAY) specialise in developing and delivering creative, fun and interactive ‘life’ skills workshops that challenge and engage young people as well as empower them with enhanced social skills, covering topics such as effective communication, conflict resolution, attitude, interpersonal skills and creative thinking as well as others. Our workshops also encourage and inspire the participants to make positive life choices through the creative use of resources such as contemporary poetry, popular youth music and role models and multimedia, which are relevant and effective with young people. As a result, the workshops delivered by SAY fully support the aims of the National Curriculum, two of which are that it should enable young people to become "confident individuals who are able to live safe, healthy and fulfilling lives" and "responsible citizens who make a positive contribution to society", as well as its increased focus on developing social and emotional skills (the SEAL programme). The school curriculum should also promote pupils' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. Consequently, our workshops help schools to fulfil the Ofsted criteria to promote community cohesion and assist with the implementation of the PLTS framework. As well as our workshops being highly beneficial and enjoyable for students, they are also perfect for Teachers to experience on training 'inset' days in order to get firsthand experience of how fun, interactive and beneficial they will be for students! The positive impact of our workshops and what we are trying to achieve as an organisation has been recognised by the social enterprise charity Unltd, who graciously provided SAY with some intial start-up funding and business support from August 2009, as well as Virgin Media, who selected Rommell Wallace to be one of their sponsored 'Virgin Media Pioneers' in August 2010. SAY recognises the importance of also reaching young people outside of the classroom, therefore as SAY grows, we will be developing strong external services and activities including mentoring, external workshops and classes, positive youth events and hosting a highly interactive website that will be fun, informative, attractive and beneficial to young people. The website will also help other youth service providers reach more of their target beneficiaries and will be an enlightening resource for parents and anyone else interested in understanding and reaching the young people in their lives. 
Rommell Wallace - Co-Founder/Director: Since 2003, Rommell Wallace has worked within the Community/Voluntary sector for the leading Charity, LEAP, a BME-led organisation that has helped thousands of unemployed and disadvantaged people change their lives by obtaining and sustaining employment. He initially went there as a client himself when he was having difficulty finding a placement at University, but they soon saw his potential, and he was given the opportunity to work for the organisation itself. Over the last 9 years he has risen through the ranks rapidly and has undertaken a range of frontline and strategic positions, which have given him strong skills, experience and knowledge in providing tailored advice and guidance to individuals, facilitating large groups in workshops and schools, engaging the public through outreach work and assisting the organisation in its funding and partnership development. He is also a graduate in BSc Business Computing Systems from City University, holds a NVQ 4 in Information, Advice and Guidance (IAG), and is a Poet. Through a combination of his passions for poetry, progression and helping people, he and his life-long friend, Paul Matthews, combined their talents and knowledge to form Serious About Youth (SAY) in 2008 to take active steps to positively influence the growing issues they saw escalating amongst young people in the UK. Using his gift in Poetry and his experience from working within the community, Rommell and Paul created the youth-focused workshop, 'Poetically Speaking', and the innovative and powerful 'P.O.E.T.R.Y Model™' to influence young people to 'want' to communicate more effectively as well as show them 'how'! Due to his positive efforts as well as the impact and potential of SAY, Rommell was selected as a sponsored Virgin Media Pioneer in August 2010.
(To listen to Rommell's poetry go to: www.myspace.com/rommellpoetry)
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Paul Matthews - Co-Founder/Director: Paul graduated from UMIST in 2003 with a master’s degree in Aeronautical Engineering. He now works as a design consultant with the architectural firm Arup Associates. His portfolio includes several award winning buildings and he was directly involved in the design and build of the stadiums that helped Qatar win their bid for the World Cup in 2022! Paul has presented at the University of Cambridge and been invited to talk at high-schools as a BME role model. Through his interactions with young people and being aware of the challenges faced by today's youth, he was inspired to do more than simply observe. He chose to 'give back'; to motivate, educate, support and guide young people to a positive future. As a result, he and his life-long friend, Rommell Wallace, came together to form Serious About Youth (SAY) and design the innovative, interactive and effective workshops that are inspiring young people in schools and other youth settings to develop stronger 'life' skills. Based on his background in Engineering and his adept skills in thinking creatively and solving problems, Paul and Rommell created the intriguing and engaging workshop 'Innov8 2 Elev8' as well as 'the K.O.O.L Model™’, to emphasise the importance of these skills to be successful in life as well as to encourage young people to set and achieve positive goals in their lives. Testimonials: We're obviously going to say that we're fantastic at what we do! But this is what some of the young people and those that work with them have to say about SAY: | |
| "The Poetically Speaking workshop was very practical, engaging and relevant." Moses Sempa, V2V Youth Leader, London “Good pace, great content!” Vicky Walsh – Year 6 Teacher, St Immanuel & Andrew Primary School | | "I think it was a really useful session, and the pupils now feel they can express themselves more positively. They took away from the class both knowledge and enthusiasm about effective communication. It was a fascinating session - really excellent! Thanks." Dr. Yvonne Robinson, Southbank University Researcher “The workshop gave me ideas for how my attitude should be throughout my life.”
Student from John Paul II High School | | "I think it was fantastic! The Facilitators are very engaging and fun! They make you want to participate." Priscilla, V2V Youth Service, London "A Pleasure!" Hannah Fox – Teacher, Swanlea High School | |
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