London's Community and Business Leaders of Tomorrow to Bid for Funds From The Mayor's Fund for London and BE OPEN's City Pitch Project

LONDON, July 9, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

Secondary school pupils from six London schools are set to present their community-spirited ideas at City Hall in the finale of this academic year's City Pitch programme.

Organised by the Mayor's Fund for London and BE OPEN, the international think-tank founded by Russian entrepreneur and philanthropist Elena Baturina, City Pitch encourages and helps young Londoners to learn new skills, while making a real difference in their communities.

Students from each school devised community initiatives with the final six chosen to pitch their ideas to Dragon's Den-style panel of experts, that includes chief executive of the Mayor's Fund for London Matthew Patten, Olga Luzhkova of BE OPEN, Trudy Killcullen, chief executive of the Jack Petchey Foundation, Jamie McCloskey, founder of snack brand Love Corn and Bilal Khan of the charity and youth empowerment movement WE.

Friday July 13, each school group will pitch to secure £1,500 funding to launch and help run their projects. The six schools and projects are:

• Brighten Up - the pupils from Chestnut Grove Academy plan to team up with a local youth centre to create a mental health day.
• Flower the Youth - the girls from Harris Academy Bermondsey want to create an enjoyable, multi-use garden for young people. 
• People for Pride - Rushcroft Foundation School pupils want to raise awareness of LGBTQ issues, promote inclusivity and reduce bullying in their school through running a Pride Week.
• Run Forest Run - the boys from Capital Foundation School propose setting up an inner-city sports tournament that will also help to tackle pollution and obesity.
• Tea Party - Capital City Academy. These West London pupils plan to bridge the gap between the generations in their community by holding tea parties.
• The Great Plastic Project - the boys from Westminster City School want to help solve the plastic crisis by running a campaign to reduce the use of plastic in their community.

Says BE OPEN's founder Elena Baturina: "These ideas are proof not only that the next generation of leaders have a sound understanding of issues faced by their communities, but also how those issues should be tackled. With the encouragement to think about the world around them and the freedom to develop their ideas, young people prove that the future is safe in their hands."