Stories from Islington

Behind every number is a person: a student who found their voice, a charity that grew stronger, a volunteer who saw their city differently. Here are some of their stories.

MUFG, COLA HH and BIG team with trophy at awards night

Featured story · Inspire

Young Minds, Brighter Futures wins Gold at the 2026 Corporate Engagement Awards

We have been awarded the prestigious Gold award in the Best Educational Programme category at Cravenhill Publishing’s 2026 Corporate Engagement Awards. The accolade honors the flagship initiative Young Minds, Brighter Futures, a partnership between MUFG, BIG Alliance and the City of London Academy Highgate Hill..

“A huge thank you to our BIG team, the MUFG Corporate Social Responsibility team, employee volunteers and the team at City of London Academy Highgate Hill, whose continued commitment has helped bring the programme to life and deliver meaningful, long-term impact for young people.”

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Image of City of London

Inspire Inside the BIG Alliance Year 10 City Work Experience Week Closing off the 2025/2026 academic year, a select cohort of Year 10 students from City of London Highgate Hill Academy stepped out of the classroom and directly into the heart of Islington’s commercial district for a valuable, multi-day work experience journey.. Read story →

Macquarie and BIG at Celebration Event

Engage "Highly Commended" at 2026 Business Charity Awards” CoRe received a High Commendation for the Consortium Award, recognising the impact of this partnership between Macquarie Group, Slaughter and May, Expedia Group and delivered by the BIG Alliance. Read story →

A childs drawing of invite to celebration event

Empower Samuel Rhodes Programme wraps up We celebrate another successful year of the Samuel Rhodes Mentoring Programme! The celebration event on the 15th May marked the end of the 10-week programme, where students with special educational needs (SEN) from Samuel Rhodes School received personalised one-on-one mentoring from Euromonitor volunteers. Read story →

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