Baillie Aaron co-founded Spark Inside, a social enterprise start-up that won the 2011 Cambridge University Entrepreneur’s Social Enterprise Award.
Spark Inside’s mission is to provide court-involved young people with opportunities for role modelling, inspiration, success, and enrichment through its coaching program. Studies have consistently shown that at-risk young people benefit tremendously from on-going mentorship relationships. The Spark Inside programme is based on empirically-tested best practices and provides adult coaches for youth in custody, commencing during their sentence and extending through to their community re-entry.
Spark Inside was being honoured with a launch at the House of Commons, and the Shackleton Foundation was invited to attend. Trustees, Matthew and Joanna, attended and had the most fascinating two hours with Baillie, her co-workers, trustees, MPs, and supporters from all walks of life.
Having finished her pilot project very successfully, Baillie has just received enough government funding to pay for the coaching of 160 of the highest risk young people in the criminal justice system in the next year.
We are very proud of what she has managed to achieve with Spark Inside, and we look forward to seeing what is to come!
