Our impact

UpRising provides support and advice to encourage participants to pursue leadership opportunities to serve their communities. Click here to see an overview of our impact during the 2010-11 programme year. 

Our exit interviews carried out in June 2011 show our top 3 impacts for our most recent cohort:

• 85% of UpRisers have a more developed sense of personal responsibility for helping society to develop and flourish and are more motivated to become public leaders

• 82% of UpRisers know more about themselves, especially their passions, preferences, weaknesses, and strengths 

• 81% of UpRisers have a tangible list of contacts and relationships that they can draw upon and work with as their journey into public leadership develops 

One UpRiser, speaking in our recent end-of-programme exit interviews, identified her new-found ability to understand different people as having had the most impact on her wider life: “I took lots of things for granted, but now I appreciate lots of other people’s passions”. She went on to explain that she has become more tolerant and positive of her local area – she has stopped complaining about its problems and now actively seeks to create change that will benefit the community. 

Our independent NCVO evaluations confirm that there is very strong evidence to suggest that UpRising has been successful in all of seven of its stated impact areas.

““Through UpRising I have met talented individuals, built lasting connections and hugely developed my skills in communication, team work and resourcefulness. Vocationally, personally and in my community, these skills have made me a more effective person. UpRising has planted a seed within me to make a positive impact in all areas of life.” UpRising Alumni

Our NCVO evaluation, completed in July 2011, found that 100% of UpRisers expanded their social networks, working across a diverse range of communities and learning to respect difference.

Opportunities that UpRising can help young people explore include:

• Volunteering with local or national organisations

• Becoming a board member or charity trustee

• Joining a Safer Neighbourhood panel or becoming a magistrate

• Taking part in a Tenants & Resident Association, or joining a Housing Association board

• Joining the board of a public body, such as an NHS Primary Care Trust

• Campaigning with an issue group

• Being active in a trade union or student union

• Getting involved in a political party, standing to be a councillor or even an MP

• Social entrepreneurship

• Becoming a governor at a local school

UpRising graduates are already leading the way in the contributions they are making to their communities. Past participants have gone on to be school governors, start their own NGOs, and become members of the Big Lottery Fund's awarding panel and trustees for charities.

UpRising has been running successfully in the London boroughs of Tower Hamlets, Newham and Barking and Dagenham since July 2008, and is now launching in Birmingham. We want to extend the opportunities offered by UpRising to young people throughout the rest of the country, and are working closely with local authorities, community groups and businesses to ensure that UpRising is able to continue to promote the participation of underrepresented groups in public life all over the nation.

"Business and the public sector can underestimate the aspirations of young people.  This is a major challenge for young people and underlines the importance of Uprising in providing support, training and networking opportunities to help overcome low expectations and build confidence."  

- Diana Whitworth, Mentor

"The Uprising Programme has managed to combine personal mentoring, teamworking and leadership development into a unique programme. It has been fascinating to watch my mentee go through a rapid development path - he is clearly growing into a public leader on the issues of political engagement and tackling of social division, working with and indeed challenging politicians, civic leaders and academics."

- Seema Malhotra, Mentor