Youth manager and entrepreneur launches campaign to raise £3m for Bristol youth services

A woman has launched a campaign to raise £3m for youth services in Bristol that she attended as a child and built a successful career on.

After founding Mogul Minded Group, a business enabling social mobility and providing opportunities for women from diverse and disadvantaged communities, Charmaine Lawrence’s career has continued to shine a light on the good Bristol has to offer.

But before her artistic and entrepreneurial ventures, Charmaine grew up in St Paul’s and attended Full Circle youth services, eventually becoming a youth worker as a young adult.

Now coming full circle, Charmaine is committed to helping bolster aspirations and improve opportunities for young people in Bristol by launching an ambitious fundraising campaign. Today, she is the youth manager of the Full Circle Youth Services.

Charmaine Lawrence, pictured with Docklands Community Centre managing director Jon Newey, wants to “be the change we want to see” – photo: Ellie Pipe

She told Bristol24/7: “In 2022, youth services will be cut to £1.9m and in 2023, it will be cut to £1.4m. We’re seeing a drastic cut across the sector in the city.

“The 333 Campaign is essentially asking 300 businesses to commit to give in £3300 per year, for three years, raising a total of £3m pounds for the youth sector in Bristol.

For her, community issues and raising aspirations are “at the heart” of everything she does.

With this in mind, Charmaine was inspired to kickstart the campaign to make up the shortfall in council funding, embodying the campaign’s mantra “be the change we want to see”.

“The campaign has just begun so there’s lots more work to be done, but we are really excited”, she said.

Governed by a team of professionals from the youth sector, the proceeds of the crowdfunder will go directly to over 70 youth sector services across Bristol.

Full Circle @ Docklands strives to promote inclusion to a currently diverse community – photo: Full Circle

Although ‘devastatingly’ underfunded, Charmaine says that youth services are vital to children and young people’s livelihood.

“The fact is youth centres often work with children from the ages of eight to 16 years old, which is longer than primary school or secondary school”, she explained.

“We have an important role to play in the community in a child’s life and to their families.”

Charmaine attributes much of her own professional success and personal drive to her years spent at the Full Circle Youth Services.

She said: “They have been an organisation that has helped me right from the beginning in terms of having their doors open providing open access services.

“They allowed me to be a young leader and I felt like the skills and the encouragement I got here as a child definitely helped shape the adult I am today.”

Charmaine has organised four Mogul Minded Group Regional Award ceremonies, celebrating a whole range of talent from across the South West- photo: Mogul Minded Group

Charmaine has carved out a prosperous career, having launched Mogul Magazine, coordinated networking events and created regional awards ceremony under the Mogul Minded umbrella.

Through her work, she has engaged with thousands of entrepreneurs and creatives from disadvantaged backgrounds.

“Looking back, I feel very proud because everything I’ve ever wanted to do, I’ve accomplished. I had never created a magazine before or put on networking events or regional award ceremonies – but I did it”, she said.

Despite Charmaine’s success, she is not satisfied, saying “there are still glass ceilings that we need to break through”.

She added: “I am nowhere near what I want to achieve in terms of going forward. I know that the 333 Campaign is going to be a big challenge for me, allowing Full Circle to grow and flourish and be one of the best youth services in Bristol.

“I’ve got so much more to do and I know that I have a purpose that’s larger than myself, but it all starts with that seed of belief.”

To sign up as a business, please email the333campaign@gmail.com or feel free to support and give a donation here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/the-333-campaign-supporting-bristols-youth?member=16769823&utm_campaign=p_cp+share-sheet&utm_medium=copy_link_all&utm_source=customer

Main photo by Ellie Pipe

Read more: The centre that’s been making a difference to young lives in St Paul’s for generations

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