Plan B aka Ben Drew (Photo credit: Beacon Radio)
If you achieve your life’s ambition (through hard work) you might choose to sit back and enjoy the trappings of success, once you earn them. Kudos to Ben Drew (aka the musician / film maker Plan B) for choosing to do more than count his cash but to support others, so they too can become successful.
His charitable trust Each One Teach One – www.eoto.org.uk – has developed out of an idea previously explored in a TED presentation. It has two stated aims, to:
- Fund inspiring projects to help young people to build their skills and in turn improve their lives.
- Link up youth provision to strengthen the sector and help the journey make more sense to young people.
The coverage in the Guardian newspaper explains the trust will operate in East London initially and aims to provide disadvantaged 14 to 25 year olds with a ‘University of alternative learning’. It will also provide the support, mentoring and counselling that they may have missed out on due to their family, community, or academic situations.
I think this is an inspiring idea. There are plenty of young people who are motivated to do something with their lives, but who have not enough confidence to articulate their goals or make life plans. The EOTO model could provide the extra support they need to answer the 3 basic goal setting questions:
- What is it that I want to achieve in my life?
- When do I want this experience this achievement?
- What is my first step to start heading in that direction?
Will this model solve all of the problems of disadvantaged youths in society? Is Mr Drew right on all counts? Probably not, but an effort like EOTO could make a significant difference to those motivated to engage with it and keep pushing forward.
Those who scoff at efforts to change will still be wasting their time hanging around in their communities – or getting into trouble and caught up in the criminal justice system. Who knows, even those youths may come to realise they too can set goals and change their situation, if they want to.
Experience Your Life 