News archive
29th July 2011
Simply the best!
One Vision Housing resident Matt Smith has won a top national award at a coveted ceremony which celebrates tenants’ contribution towards making their communities safer and more desirable.
The student, 20, from Litherland, was awarded Young Tenant of the Year at the National Tenant Participation Advisory Service (TPAS) Connecting People Awards.
Judges praised Matt’s commitment to youth empowerment which sees him run a voluntary youth club where he delivers The Duke of Edinburgh Award, helping young people to fund raise as well as taking the children camping and ice skating. He also works as a Youth Engagement Consultant bridging the generational gap by teaching adults how to successfully engage with young people.
One Vision Housing Chief Executive Roy Williams said: "Matt’s a highly motivated and inspirational young man who does an enormous amount for his community. He works tirelessly to create opportunities for others and his knowledge and expertise enable him to work as a youth engagement consultant as well as chairing One Vision Housing’s Youth Forum.”
Earlier this year, Matt received a fellowship from The School for Social Entrepreneurs – a school that seeks to help social entrepreneurs create community-engaged, community-shaped organisations. It was here Matt came up with the idea for Fresh Minds- a social enterprise Matt set up with help from One Vision Housing’s Community Development Fund.
Matt used the funding to run an environmental after school programme where young people learnt about their environment, their school’s sustainability and how to decrease their impact on the world around them. After completing the course, they all received a nationally recognised Award Scheme Development and Accreditation Network (ASDAN) award.
He said: “I'm really proud to have won this award. I want people to see that with the right opportunities, there’s a lot of young people who want to engage and who want to learn.”
Congratulations Matt!
