Building Belonging: Recent Episodes
Onward and The Cares Family
Building Belonging: A new podcast brought to you by Onward and The Cares Family about civic innovators and the stories behind the institutions they’re building to bring us together in an age of disconnection.
Join Alex Smith and Will Tanner for deep conversations with the people who are restitching our social fabric, including Jon Yates, Sophia Parker, Ivo Gormley, Kim Leadbeater MP and more.
In this episode of Building Belonging Will and Alex speak to Gemma Mortensen, co-creator of New Constellations about her work bringing people together and building a better, more beautiful future.
In this episode of Building Belonging Will and Alex speak to Parkrun Chief Executive Russ Jeffreys about its growth, how it fared the pandemic and the power of exercise in building social connections.
In this episode of Building Belonging Will and Alex speak to Ruth Ibegbuna, founder of the RECLAIM Project, The Roots Programme, and Rekindle, about empowering working class young people, building social connections and why she thinks we should abolish private schools.
In this episode of Building Belonging Will and Alex speak to Matt Hyde, Chief Executive of The Scouts about the founding of the organisation by Robert Baden-Powell in 1908, why the organisation has stood the test of time and remained relevant, and how to get more young people involved in volunteering.
In this episode of Building Belonging Will and Alex speak to Sophia Parker, founder of Little Village, a charity providing young families with clothes, toys and a supportive community.
Little Village is based in London with hubs in Camden, Wandsworth, Southwark, Brent and Hounslow. Since it launched in 2016, it has supported over 17,000 children across London and is now headed by Sophie Livingstone.
In this episode of Building Belonging Alex Smith and Will Tanner speak with Emmanuel Akpan-Inwang, Director of Lighthouse - a charity that transforms the lives of children in care - about where his inspiration for the charity came from, its scalability and children's policy.
In this episode of Building Belonging Will and Alex speak to Ivo Gormley, the CEO and Founder of Good Gym - a community of people who get fit by doing good - about where the idea came from, their work combating loneliness, and their plans for the future.
In this episode of Building Belonging Alex and Will speak to Kim Leadbeater, MP for Batley and Spen, about her work with the Jo Cox Foundation and More in Common, her campaigning in the House of Commons and the differences between being an MP and a community activist.
In this episode of Building Belonging Will and Alex speak to Jon Yates, a social entrepreneur and author who founded the National Citizen Service and worked as a Special Advisor to the Education Secretary. He now runs the Youth Endowment Fund.
In this very first episode of Building Belonging, Onward Director Will Tanner and The Cares Family Founder Alex Smith discuss their own work building belonging at a national and local level, bringing about change in Westminster and in communities, and the entrepreneurialism need to take big ideas and turn them into reality.