Where things were:

Some of London’s biggest public institutions were unsure of how to become inclusive, impact-focused and connect with the communities they served.

What was needed:

As a Londoner, born and bred, Stephen needed to use his social entrepreneurship skills, knowledge and expertise to collaborate with the Greater London Authority and other associated organisations to make them more effective and able to offer the best services for young Londoners.

Stephen in action:

This led to the creation of Project Oracle, a youth evidence hub. Stephen was in charge of designing and building the program, taking it to market and scaling it across London

Stephen also worked alongside GLA civil servants on a number of strategic projects. This included helping to design and deliver the evidence approach for the London Schools Excellence Fund and supporting the Mayor’s Office for London to design its new measurement approach. He also worked closely with the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime to design evidence approaches. Stephen went on to collaborate with  The Metropolitan Police Service, evaluating their conflict mediation services and supporting a mental health study conceived by Lord Bernard Hogan Howe and Lord Victor Adebowale.

What happened next:

At its peak, Project Oracle was a multi-million-pound initiative supporting over 1000 organisations across London to measure their impact and mapping 500 organisations across the City, it led to more effective services and interventions and a culture of learning for London’s youth and education services.

The project has been proven to help grow the evidence behind youth services to therefore improve the funding and commissioning process. It is also the only city-wide evidence generation campaign of its kind anywhere in the world. The initiative merged with the Centre for Youth Impact (which Stephen co-founded) in 2017.

Stephen’s involvement created new measurement frameworks that helped define and improve on how these organisations approached their work and delivered interventions.