Chris was previously Strategic Commissioner for Youth Services at the Royal borough of Kensington & Chelsea (RBKC) where he leads on redesigning and restructuring the youth service. JNC trained, he holds a Degree in Youth & Community studies, with an MA in Childhood and Youth: Frameworks for Integrated Practice. With over 20 years’ experience as a Senior Manager in both local government and the voluntary sector, Chris has managed a wide range of services for children and young people, in a variety of senior Children’s Service roles across London and at County Council level, encompassing the portfolios for Early Help, youth participation, play services, Sports Development, health and arts provision. Following ten years in Norfolk for Children’s Services, he relocated back to London (LB Hackney) and was appointed to the post of Youth Programmes and Projects Manager for Young Hackney since 2013 until more recently (2018). Chris has tutored on intercultural dialogue as a guest speaker for Anglia Ruskin University, London Metropolitan University and the University of East London and worked as an External Assessor for Pan–European Youth Programmes and Youth Exchanges, which aim to tackle racial discrimination across Europe. He is also a graduate of the Virtual Staff College Network for future Black & Asian Leaders (BALI) and a keen advocate for Systemic Dialogue and how it can improve service design, implementation and communication.

Maxine has been involved with fundraising for 18 years within the third sector. She holds an MA in Social Work and trained as a Mental Health Social Worker. She has held senior fundraising positions in charities working with vulnerable and marginalised children and young people. Maxine is passionate about ensuring that opportunities are made available to all children and young people so that they can reach their full potential. She is most happy getting involved in all aspects of fundraising, which includes project management, programme design, evaluation, and managing relationships with funders. Over the course of her career, she has acquired a depth of knowledge that covers key areas of work with children and young people. -Employability and enterprise -Leadership and Social Action -Creative Arts, Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) -Health & Wellbeing Maxine is a member of the Institute of Fundraising and a Fellow with the Royal Society of Arts. She enjoys speaking publicly about the work of youth organisations and meeting people of all backgrounds from senior Central Government Cabinet members, major donors and young people at the local youth club.

Faith was previously the Strategic Manager at Tower Hamlets with responsibility for consulting and supporting the transformation of LBTH Youth service. She is JNC qualified, has an MSc in Organisational Behaviour and over 15 years’ experience of innovating and developing training and award-winning sustainable service delivery models that are effective amongst ‘hard-to-engage’ and disaffected community groups. Previously faith has managed a variety of projects/services within the local authority and higher education sectors, including Media and Art, Youth Services and Widening Participation. She held responsibility for the development of Haringey’ Young Commissioners Project, Birkbeck’ Outreach Project (Bridges) and LBTH Youth service Mapping and consultation. Faith is a member of The British Psychological Society and has undertaken a course in Psychometric testing to support young people and adults to maximise their potential. She has extensive knowledge and experience working within diverse and challenging communities and a passion for finding solutions that enable children, young people, adults, and communities to thrive and succeed.

Deji joins having spent 7 years at Hackney CVS leading on projects such as “ The Stop and Search Monitoring Group” which aimed to bridge the gap between the community and police, Talent Match supporting young people aged 18 - 25 into meaningful employment. Developing the inspirational leaders who are young people working with the local authority to improve outcomes for young black men. Deji has a passion for young people and a heart for the grass roots. Deji is looking forward to meeting member organisations and developing projects and initiatives that will bring much needed resources that will further support the work going on in the borough.

Jemima has been involved in Sport and Physical Activity for over 20 years and holds a Masters degree in Sport Psychology. She has held various positions in the sports sector, including National, Regional and County positions with the Lawn Tennis Association and a Partnership Manager role with the Active Partnership London Sport. Jemima is committed to helping get children & young people more physically active and feel the benefits of leading an active lifestyle, particularly those children who do not have as many opportunities to be active. Jemima has worked with Young Brent Foundation since May 2017, in her first role as a bid writer, she went on to develop a successful Sport England Funding Application to their Families Fund, before now managing our FunFit Families programme. Member organisations working with families, that would benefit from a more healthy, and active lifestyle, should contact Jemima.