Sammy Odoi is the founder of WiPERS – a social enterprise dedicated to engaging and empowering young people. Sammy is a qualified social worker who has been working with vulnerable young people for over ten years. Sammy became inspired to address the challenge of enhancing the quality of interventions being received by young people involved with the youth justice system. In 2013 WiPERS was officially launched with the mission to engage and empower hard-to-reach disaffected young people. WiPERS supports youth offending teams and other organisations working with young people by delivering relationship-based, person-centered interventions to help break the cycle of offending behaviour. The Shackleton Foundation Leadership Award has enabled WiPERS to develop the range and scope of its group work programmes, as they continue to see the social impact of their work reach even more young people, helping to give them “a clearer vision for a safer journey” through their adolescent years.

Award Date: July 2014