Unlocking the power of community support to ensure every student in the local area reaches their full potential
ABOUT US
WHO WE ARE
We are an innovative educational organisation that addresses the disparity of resources in education through our model of community giving, partnering the local community with its schools to provide a wide variety of bespoke, targeted support. This allows community members to donate their time, skills and resources directly to local schools in need.
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HOW WE WORK
We work directly with head teachers to develop a bespoke package of support to meet the individual needs of their school. Our recent initiatives have focused on literacy, maths, secondary enrichment and mental health and well-being. All of our initiatives are resourced through the local community, and we operate as a 100% voluntary organisation, with all donations going directly to the schools in our network.
SCHOOLS WE SUPPORT
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We currently have two schools in our network, a secondary school serving over 700 students aged 11-16 and a unique all-through school serving 900 students aged 2-18. In both schools, the percentage of children receiving Free School Meals exceeds both the borough and national averages.
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OUR STORY SO FAR
Connect the Community began in 2020 during the pandemic. During this difficult time, close friends Fiona Forbes and Krista Manketo wanted to find a way to support the widely reported educational challenges that were confronting schools and students. After contacting their MP to learn if any local schools would benefit from their support, they were connected to the Headteacher of a local school, who explained the real-time challenges faced by her school community.
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Realising that there were very few Government-supported programmes that could effectively and efficiently address this school’s particular challenges, Fiona and Krista decided to tap into their community contacts and source the various items the school required, ranging from face masks and sanitiser to laptops and food parcels.
Since that time, Connect the Community has established a deep partnership with the school, and extended its reach to another school in the local community. By developing this model of community giving, the local community is partnered with its schools to provide a wide variety of bespoke, targeted support.
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To date, these initiatives have included literacy and maths interventions, health and well-being support and school breakfasts.
OUR TEAM
FIONA FORBES
Co Founder
Fiona Forbes started her career on the graduate programme at Unilever before setting up Off the Fence Marketing, a boutique consultancy offering support on strategy, communication and innovation. Off the Fence has worked with Tesco, Unilever, William Grant and Pernod Ricard amongst others.
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Fiona’s key charitable interests are Education and Social Mobility in the UK. She sits on the Board of Ark Schools and as a local governor at Ark Putney Academy, she is a Trustee at Get Further, a tutoring charity, and she volunteers in a local secondary school. During the pandemic, Fiona launched the ‘September for Schools’ campaign, calling for home-schooling to be improved and for a return to schools to be a government priority.
Fiona attended state schools in Warrington and read Modern Languages at Durham University.
KRISTA MANKETO
Co Founder
Spanning both the public and private sector, Krista Manketo has held various roles in both the US and UK whilst at Georgetown University and Linklaters LLP.
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A dedicated volunteer herself, Krista is passionate about the power of volunteering to create meaningful connections and drive positive social change. She has seen first-hand the positive impact that volunteering can have on everyone involved and is an active supporter of charities that focus on youth education, engagement and mental health.
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Krista holds a BA in History from Boston University and a Diploma in Early Childhood Development from The Institute of Education, University College London.
