Bury St Edmunds man launches podcast to help charities help themselves
Social entrepreneurs have been brought together for an informal podcast - which its co-host hopes can lead to some serious discussion on eradicating homelessness.
Bury St Edmunds-based Simon Pickering, director of Dot to Dot Training & Consultancy, is presenting This Much We Know alongside Murphy Hopkins-Hubbard his friend and enterprise development and investment manager at charity Homeless Link.
Over seven episodes the pair pick the brains of leaders in the homelessness social enterprise space.
Mr Pickering, who has worked within West Suffolk Council and helped get BurySOUND and a Bury skate park off the ground, said: “We are trying to promote social enterprise to homeless organisations.
“The aim is to try and get organisations which help the homeless out of a position where they are grant dependent - and to be using social enterprises to do that.”
The first episode features Meg Doherty, founding director at Fat Macy’s, a catering company which puts homeless young Londoners under the tutelage of top chefs to help them move from hostels to homes. Also featured are Julius Ibrahim, founder of Second Shot Coffee - a café which trains, employs, and supports people affected by homelessness. Then there is Alasdair Jackson, of Recycling Lives - a leading national charity, working in offender rehabilitation, homeless support and food redistribution.
Mr Pickering, who has worked alongside East Anglia training organisation MENTA, sees the podcast as a friendly extension of his work with Dot to Dot - an organisation which external expertise to the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector. He continued: “There are hundreds of organisations but so few are taking steps towards social enterprise. What we are looking to do is to help the homeless using all the aids we can. It is fascinating to hear through the interviews all of the different things that are going on all over the country. There are some great stories.
“The podcast is called This Much We Know because we are learning as we go forward. It is very chatty and we have had a laugh doing it. We have also developed over the episodes to become less scripted. Podcasts are a really effective way to get through to people, you can listen any time.
“We are only two episodes in but the response has been unbelievable so far, we have had listeners from all around the world.”
Search ‘This Much We Know’ on any established podcast provider.
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