What People Say About Us

Having spent many years working in Community Safety, Youth Violence and Gang Exit programmes, I've become frustrated by the lack of opportunities for disadvantaged young people. There is no point telling a young person with a criminal record for drug dealing to just "go and get a job".

It's not that simple! With a criminal record and no formal qualifications, they'd struggle to secure employment.
These young people have life experience, they have handled and managed money and people - they have an intuitive understanding of business. In order for them to turn their lives around, they need real pathways out; that's precisely what Social Ark provides.

Social Ark refrains from the usual one-size-fits-all approach and works with members as individuals. They identify each entrepreneur's unique talents and qualities, supporting them to test ideas and come up with realistic business plans. In my view, supporting people to help themselves become independent and self-sufficient has to be the greatest and purest form of giving, and that's why I give my time to Social Ark.

Social Ark is both an inspiring and outstanding organisation, fostering extraordinary social enterprise solutions in just about everything it does. It's about finding opportunity and possibility in everyone, especially those who are underserved or often overlooked.

It supports people to fulfil their biggest potential as community leaders or social entrepreneurs is brilliant. I've seen and heard the transformational impact Social Ark has had on people's lives. Social Ark reaches the parts within our communities that others fail to reach, and it does so with integrity and with joy.

It's been incredible to witness the growth of social ark under the stewardship and leadership of the formidable Lisa Stepanovic - everything that comes out of Social Ark's incubation is rich in social purpose, economic value and community impact - the very approaches we need if we want to kickstart our economic and social prosperity, from the grassroots up.