Chairman's Themes

Amanda Porter, Chairman

Each year the direction of Birmingham Future is determined by the incoming Chairman. It is the Chairman’s themes that set the focus of the organisation, its activities and campaigns. 

Themes 2009/10

 1. Education and Skills

Birmingham Future is committed to attracting, retaining and developing the talent in our city through initiatives for both students/graduates and Future members.

Through Future’s work with Moseley School and our Graduate Apprentice Scheme, and also by working with organisations such as Graduate Advantage and Grad Central, we hope to encourage more people to consider the wide range of careers with top employers on offer in Birmingham.

The third “Welcome to Birmingham” event will be held this year underlining the importance we place on ensuring that young professionals are given every opportunity to play a full part in the city they have chosen to begin their careers.

For Future members, we will be running a series of workshops aimed at developing “soft skills” which are becoming increasingly sought after by employers. Our award winning mentoring scheme will be expanded and we will be working with Birmingham Forward in connection with their innovative pilot mentoring scheme with Job Centre Plus. We will also be working closely with Dr Andrew Bass, Forward’s new skills champion, to re-energise our joint approach to education and skills. 

The most talented young professionals amongst us will be celebrated at Future’s flagship event, the Birmingham Young Professional of the Year awards, which this year celebrates its tenth anniversary.

Finally, our fundraising for the Future Foundation will be specifically for education, training and employment related community projects.

2. Diversity

We are keen to raise awareness of the importance of diversity within the business sector and many of our events, including training sessions and debates, will therefore focus on this issue. We will continue to work closely with other organisations that also place value on diversity.

Many of our Future members are getting involved with our adoption of Moseley School where 90% of the intake is from Black Minority Ethnic (BME) communities. Our programme of events is designed to raise the students’ aspirations and realise their potential and we would be delighted to hear from you if you would like to help with this.