00:00:00:00 - 00:00:03:01 Speaker 1 You're listening. To listening to. I echoed radio. 00:00:03:02 - 00:00:08:01 Speaker 2 Echo wood radio. You're still listening to The Ripple Effect here. I'm now joined here by Jaden Berry. 00:00:08:02 - 00:00:09:14 Speaker 3 Welcome, Jaden. Nice to be. 00:00:09:14 - 00:00:20:19 Speaker 2 Here. Nice to have you. Now, your involvement with the United by 22 goes back to your successful application for ideas made real funding. Just talk us through what ideas made real is and what your vision was within it. 00:00:21:00 - 00:00:43:17 Speaker 3 So Ideas Made Real is basically a project put on by, you know, by 2022 to get young people that have a vision for something that they want to do to help other young people, or it could be older people, any sort of project that I feel that I want to put out there. You know, about 22, it basically helped them do that with funding and a lot of other help as well with like social media stuff. 00:00:43:17 - 00:01:02:05 Speaker 3 They've been very involved throughout. And my project was basically called supporting New, which is helping young people from, disenfranchized areas in Birmingham like Balsall Heath, alum Rock. Small Heath and places like that basically get into football and also a bit of camera work. 00:01:02:07 - 00:01:09:21 Speaker 2 Brilliant. So they're not only able to go along and play the sport that they love, but they're also offered the opportunity to gain some training and experience that will improve their digital skills as well. 00:01:09:24 - 00:01:11:00 Speaker 3 Yeah, exactly. 00:01:11:02 - 00:01:14:22 Speaker 2 And what were the age ranges of the participants that you had? 00:01:14:24 - 00:01:20:24 Speaker 3 So most of the football stuff, that was from about 7 to 16. And then the coming out. 00:01:20:24 - 00:01:30:11 Speaker 2 Of that 14 to 18 is a really crucial time, of people choosing their GCSE and A-levels. And they ran for 32 weeks, I believe. Yes. And how did it all go? 00:01:30:13 - 00:01:46:18 Speaker 3 It was great, to be fair. Like it started off very well. I thought the numbers would be lower than there were at the start, but it was actually quite good with. We got about a session, about 15 kids in for football at first, and then just from then on got the word spread out through like social media and word of mouth and things like that. 00:01:46:18 - 00:01:49:01 Speaker 3 And it's gone very well. I've been very happy with it. 00:01:49:04 - 00:01:58:07 Speaker 2 That's wonderful to hear. Now, the way these sessions, football and digital skills combined into one session or two to do football on one day and test and stuff on another. How did it work? 00:01:58:08 - 00:02:17:17 Speaker 3 So the way it was, it was for the first I think it was about 16 weeks. It was just football. So we kind of wanted to get that base element planted in first, made sure things were running smoothly, and then we started running the convert stuff on separate days for the kids that were really interested in it. So some of them, you know, we're not going to force them to do stuff that they don't want to do. 00:02:17:17 - 00:02:28:13 Speaker 3 So, any of them that felt like they wanted to know on the social media and homework skills, they could come on for an extra day, and then we incorporated it in with that for the rest of the week. 00:02:28:17 - 00:02:40:07 Speaker 2 Oh, perfect. Now, Jayden, as we've mentioned, you were selected as a successful applicant to the ideas Made Real scheme. What ideas and experiences have you had before that assured the team that what you were doing was making a real difference? 00:02:40:09 - 00:03:01:03 Speaker 3 Well, we had obviously the backing of the company on move Birmingham United. That was great for the football bit. You know, I've been working with Siraj very closely and he's got a lot of knowledge in the footballing world more than myself though, and in coaching and things like that as well. So he was able to bring good people on board as well that were able to help with the young people and then with the camera work stuff as well. 00:03:01:04 - 00:03:17:05 Speaker 3 I'm trying to build kind of my own platform of that as well, and I did stuff like that in sixth form, so I feel like I have a good amount of knowledge now that when I actually saw it, teaching people these skills, I feel like I know what I'm talking about. I'm giving the best advice and I hope that they felt that way too. 00:03:17:07 - 00:03:30:08 Speaker 2 Excellent. So supporting you obviously help not only digital skills, but also offering safe places to play football. What personal experiences do you have within those areas? No, this service could be improved upon to encourage people to come together to play. 00:03:30:10 - 00:03:56:23 Speaker 3 Well, I've been in Birmingham literally my whole life, so I've been around and you see these places, like I said, like Blackheath and ROC small Heath, you know, they've not really got any facilities in place for them. And with all the stuff going on with Birmingham City Council at the moment, like they've gone bankrupt and all of that stuff, they're cutting things like this and it's just really important that you get kids in these areas off the streets because they've not really got much to do. 00:03:56:23 - 00:04:08:15 Speaker 3 And, you know, they don't want them getting into the wrong crowd. And it's just the best way to get them enjoying themselves, making new friends, staying off the streets is getting them active and doing things that they actually enjoy. 00:04:08:16 - 00:04:17:11 Speaker 2 It sounds like a really beneficial project for those areas of Birmingham, for sure. Do you have any stories of young people that have come along to your sessions and have now moved on to similar things since? 00:04:17:11 - 00:04:37:02 Speaker 3 So we had one kid called Shaheed. He came to one of our Balti sessions and then Sarojini always saying he's really good at football. So we've actually got him into the Birmingham United, under 20 ones. And he made a few appearances for the first team as well. We also got Jabril as well. He on the camera work side. 00:04:37:08 - 00:04:48:03 Speaker 3 We managed to get him some paid work. Calf doing basically like a short Instagram reel for them. And, yeah, it's been good for them. They've managed to get some, good paid work out of it. 00:04:48:07 - 00:05:06:14 Speaker 2 A dream result to be able to help someone pursue their career in football, as well as helping someone else get paid work in digital creation. So real proof in the pudding that these kind of projects absolutely work. So how did supporting you come about? What's its origin story and where did you see that connection to offering both sides as regular sessions? 00:05:06:15 - 00:05:30:01 Speaker 3 Well, as you know, football is a massive sport. You know, there's a lot of people that love football. And also with me working with Birmingham United as well, you know, Suraj has a real passion for these things like community work and things like that. And he made a very good point where it's these kids. It's it's very hard for them to again, have the facilities to actually build off of football and do something with it. 00:05:30:05 - 00:05:45:00 Speaker 3 So if we give them those facilities, it would be great if they could kickstart something like go into non-league or even get signed by an academy or something. And even if, even if things like that don't happen, it's good for these kids to be able to play a sport that they enjoy in a safe space. 00:05:45:04 - 00:05:56:09 Speaker 2 And of course, united by 22, you came out of the games and it's legacy that was left by that event. Was there an inspiration from that for you or anything directly connected to the games that ties that all together? 00:05:56:11 - 00:06:04:20 Speaker 3 100%. That's where we actually saw United by 22 from and before, you know, these guys can be a massive help to us. And there have been. 00:06:04:22 - 00:06:07:02 Speaker 2 Well, thank you so much for coming on to the show. Yeah. 00:06:07:03 - 00:06:08:02 Speaker 3 Thank you. 00:06:08:04 - 00:06:12:12 Speaker 2 And for sharing. What are some amazing success stories from your project supporting you? 00:06:12:12 - 00:06:13:21 Speaker 3 Thank you. 00:06:13:23 - 00:06:33:02 Speaker 2 That was Jaden Berrie of Supporting You, a project that came out of the ideas Made Real initiative from Gen 22, of course, all part of United by 22. Next up on the ripple effect here on echo would radio. From football to dance, we have a few guests from across the regions talking about how their projects have benefited their community since the games. 00:06:33:06 - 00:06:36:18 Speaker 2 You won't want to miss it straight after this.