Mr Buba Turay

Please tell us about their volunteering, campaigning or other leadership work:
The African Voices Forum is an umbrella organisation of 18 local community organisation in Bristol. They have supported, advocated and represented these organisations in various issues and affairs. Undertake campaigns, exhibitions, workshops and conferences.

Please tell us about the impact this person has had in their community or the whole city:
This organisation have had excellent impact in the various communities their membership operates.

Ari Cantwell

Please tell us about their volunteering, campaigning or other leadership work:
Ari set up the Coexist Community Kitchen at Hamilton House.  In December last year, Coexist were evicted from the building as the owners sought to develop the property into flats.  In that time, Ari has successfully found and organized the renovation of a new venue for this much loved and vital project at Mivart Studios in Easton, and it is due to open its doors in November.  Throughout this period she has demonstrated incredible leadership by volunteering for countless months to: Raise money for the relocation of the project; Continue to run the kitchen from various temporary venues across the city to serve refugee groups and countless organisations that support people affected by addiction; Successfully navigate setting up the Community Kitchen again from scratch - despite the exhaustion, trauma and grief of losing a building she collaborated in developing for the past 7 years of its 10 year history.

Please tell us about the impact this person has had in their community or the whole city:
She has helped save a vital element from Coexist - an organisation that has inspired over 15,000 people to demand bringing Hamilton House into community ownership - and transplanted it in the heart of Easton where many of the service users of the community kitchen are located. Ari has been a clear and vibrant advocate of community business, critiquing the way in which it is being co-opted and destroyed by developers within the city - which is a much needed and difficult role to fulfil.  Her campaign and support work has inspired hundreds of people along with the vital work she does on a daily basis - building community through food, supporting healthy lifestyles and inspiring hope.  Her work makes the difference for those on the margins - enabling participation so that they are visible, appreciated and can make supportive friendships and foster a sense of self-worth and belonging.
 

Errol Campbell

Please tell us about their volunteering, campaigning or other leadership work:
Errol Campbell 
Chairman: Friends of Caswell Thompson Prostate Cancer Awareness, Rev Senior Pastor Church of God of Prophecy,  
I would like to nominate Errol Campbell, chairman of Friends of Caswell Thompson Prostate Cancer Awareness Planning Committee, for his outstanding contribution to Prostate Cancer Awareness within the locality and his endeavour to publicise the dangers, fears, and state of so prostate cancer care. 
This has provided a platform for people of African and  Asian descent who are at the highest risk of prostate cancer, (1 in 4) to be more aware of the nature of the illness, the rights they have with regards to prostate cancer checks and how to navigate the medical system as he had to do himself. 

Please tell us about the impact this person has had in their community or the whole city:
Errol has found time to present his findings to medical students, cancer professional and the general public which were well received. Friends of Caswell Thompson Committees’ ethos provides a framework for persons to understand the state of prostate health within their community and service provision. This gives a window to plan and take action through education or otherwise to further enhance responsible care. The ultimate aim is to have a dedicated unit for prostate cancer screening and support.

The impact of Errol's work has been recognised nationally and internationally through his interactions with health professionals. This impacted on research where the necessary sample group looked at in some studies needed to be extended. The impetuousness on high-risk groups needed to be more rigorous.
 

Frances Fox

Please tell us about their volunteering, campaigning or other leadership work:
Frances Fox has been Director of the Bristol mental health charity The Bridge Foundation for 15 years and has led this organisation through periods of great change in the worlds of mental health services and charity governance / funding.  The Bridge Foundation offers psychotherapy and counselling to children and families, including children attending schools in some of Bristol’s most deprived areas and many looked after and adopted children and their families, as well as offering a fee-paying service to all children / families.  Frances has created a centre of excellence for therapeutic services in Bristol and has engaged in shaping local and national mental health policy; she has particularly championed services for primary aged children.  Frances has pioneered the Bridge in Schools programme, ensuring disadvantaged families can more easily access services locally, and she has sat on many Local Authority and Voluntary Sector boards and committees, including the Voscur Board.

Please tell us about the impact this person has had in their community or the whole city:
Over her tenure as Director, thousands of Bristol children have been able to improve their life chances and families have received much needed support. A belief in early intervention and prevention is at the heart of her leadership and has informed the way The Bridge Foundation has developed.  She has built partnerships with other Voluntary Sector organisations, and brought vital resources and funding streams into the local area. Examples are the Building Bridges programme which secured EU funding to support local women facing barriers to employment and the Stepping Up programme, using Big Lottery funding to support vulnerable children in transition to secondary school.  Over one hundred local children have had therapy and family support at The Bridge Foundation through the Adoption Support fund, with others funded by social services.  Under her leadership, the Bridge Foundation has trebled in size and become a significant influence in the city.

Rachel Mohun

Please tell us about their volunteering, campaigning or other leadership work:
Chaplin Park Community Group started in September this year when Rachel and another local resident put flyers through 240 doors, and a group of 15 people gathered in a nearby pocket park on the corner of Chaplin Road and Nicholas Road in Easton. From that beginning, Rachel has been the driving force in setting up a group with a constitution and a functioning committee in place following an AGM in November. We work as a team of volunteers which she leads as a volunteer herself. She is dedicated to the ethic of volunteering, and leads a diverse group with ease and deftness of touch. Her leadership has meant that we fit together easily and cover for one another whenever possible. She campaigns hard to ensure that this park is not forgotten due to its small footprint - just five terraced houses, or its location in the east of the city.

Please tell us about the impact this person has had in their community or the whole city:
The impact of Rachel's work has been immense in such a short time. We meet regularly to discuss our plans, and do work to maintain the park whenever we can. Currently she is driving a funding application in coordination with Bristol City Council with our support that can help us to achieve our aims. Her energy and enthusiasm have been an incredible force in our community, bringing people together as volunteers. We have become dedicated to making the Park a focal point for developing our community, protecting the environment and providing a beautiful place of which we can be proud due to her leadership. I have lived in the street for over 20 years, and others in the group have lived here longer than that. She has made a difference in all our lives and created a new perspective on our community.

Stephanie Wheen

Please tell us about their volunteering, campaigning or other leadership work:
Stephanie Wheen is the CEO founder of Gympanzees. 84% of families who have a child with disabilities cannot access regular leisure activities. Gympanzees run unique Pop Up activity centres for children and young adults with disabilites to come to with their families. The centres are designed with their different needs in mind i.e. environmental or accessibility needs, so that all the equipment can be accessed by all the children regardless of their abilities or disabilities. The rooms offer a gym, indoor/outdoor playgrounds, trampolines, active/calming sensory rooms, music room and soft play. All the equipment in the 8 specific rooms is chosen to give therapeutic activity while the children and their families just have a good time! A cafe is central to the design whereby the families can meet with others in similar situations to share experiences thereby supporting each other, expanding their community and addressing the isolation that 72% experience.

Please tell us about the impact this person has had in their community or the whole city:
Gympanzees is supported by a vibrant community, reflecting how they value Stephanie's work. Gympanzees researches each Pop Up, looking into 3 crucial areas for child and family well-being: physical, social and mental health. Examples of these outcomes are: Physical health: 52 children walked for the first time on the specialized equipment, a 6-year-old took her first independent steps after a visit, a 5 year old slept through the night for the first time. Social health: 69% of children met new friends, 100% of siblings played together, and two 3-year olds laughed for the first time at the centre. Mental health: 93% of parents talked to others, families who met at earlier Pop Ups come along together to the next. One parent commented that “In a place like this you can leave worries at the door – I don’t feel isolated! Can’t put into words how important this is for us. 

Deasy Bamford

Please tell us about their volunteering, campaigning or other leadership work:
Deasy Bamford is the cofounder and founder of a number of organisations and events that all have at their core the desire to promote diversity & empowerment and enable people to connect across boundaries through the use of  music  the arts  and the love of the outdoors. These include: Tribe of Doris, Imayla & Big Time Festival that ran in St Paul’s for a number of years. She also instigated WOW (Women of the World) a meeting and sharing of women from all nationalities & ages, Bristol Refugee Festival and the Diverse Artists Network. All of these came into being through Deasy's gift of bringing people, of all backgrounds, together and creating a space where they felt safe, welcome and heard, many for the first time. 
Deasy has also played the role of an unpaid and unrecognised community engagement and development worker in St Pauls for decades.

Please tell us about the impact this person has had in their community or the whole city:
Deasy’s work over the decades has created spaces, platforms and events which celebrated the richness of diversity and enabled different cultures to see hear and appreciate each other. The impact is felt across Bristol ( BRF / DAN) and much wider (TOD) and also in Central Bristol East through Imayla and her personal connections in the community she has lived in for 3 decades. 
Deasy challenges arts and other institutions that are exclusive and creates opportunities for young talent to be recognised and flourish, especially those from BAME backgrounds. 
Her ability to connect with people has enabled her to identify needs that more formal services struggle to recognise  and her responses are creative and  inclusive with many families benefiting from her work either directly, through her  lending an ear, signposting or  connecting people or indirectly through the work of  the organisations she has been instrumental in creating.

Julie Cooper

Please tell us about their volunteering, campaigning or other leadership work:
Julie has worked very hard to support the group' Fit n Fab' , this is a group of women who meet weekly at Knowle West Health Living Centre to reach achievable goals, through activities and talks.

Please tell us about the impact this person has had in their community or the whole city:
The women often find their confidence is improved and they are able to move on and enjoy life more. This clearly also impacts on all members of their family as the experience is shared.

Poku Osei 

Please tell us about their volunteering, campaigning or other leadership work:
(1) Poku Pipim Osei is the co-founder and CEO of award-winning youth empowerment organisation, Babbasa. Poku relocated to Bristol from Ghana in 2008 to study at The University of the West of England. As a young graduate, Poku engaged with more and more young people throughout inner-city Bristol and realised that there was a need and desperation among young people predominantly from ethnic minority backgrounds to overcome educational under-achievement, unemployment, and a lack of aspiration.
Poku left a career in real estate to set up Babbasa with no start-up investment. Babbasa was designed to provide young people with a third pillar outside of the home and school, that offered disadvantaged young people throughout Bristol access to opportunities, education, and training. Since becoming a CIC in 2013, the organisation has gone on to support over 300 young people a year with their professional aspirations and established a community hub in St Paul’s.

Please tell us about the impact this person has had in their community or the whole city:
(1) Poku offers his time, knowledge and influence to support varied humanitarian causes in the South West Region and Bristol as a city. This includes acting as: 
Founding Curator of the first-ever Bristol Hub for the World Economic Forum initiative, Global Shapers to look at collaborative and innovative ways to address Street Conflict. 
Co-founder of the Black Professionals Network to empower ethnic minority professionals to thrive in their chosen career profession and become role models for younger generations.
Committee Member of the Quartet Foundation, BCC City Funds and One Bristol to ensure that funding criteria and grant award is evenly and objectively distributed to impact marginalised and ethnic minority communities.
St Paul’s Carnival Commissioner to advise on a new sustainable structure and improve confidence in its investors to bring back the African Caribbean carnival on the streets of St Paul’s in 2017 after funding was pulled for the previous years.