It takes a community to drive change - Socially Mobile launches to candidates

A thank you letter to the PRCA and the Socially Mobile community on receiving the Mark Mellor, Outstanding Contribution Award. Socially Mobile opens for applications today.

Thanks to the PRCA for the Mark Mellor, Outstanding Contribution Award.

Mark Mellor wrote to Steve Earl and I in September 1998, shortly after starting Rainier PR, to wish us well. It was a measure of his humanity that he took the time to wish an upstart competitor good luck.

He built Firefly along with Claire Walker and helped define and uphold professional standards through his work at the PRCA. His focus on workplace culture and wellbeing set the agenda for the industry.

The importance of humanity and community are two important lessons for me following the COVID-19 crisis. The PRCA has provided much needed industry leadership and support.

I want to dedicate this award to everyone who has offered their support to help Sarah Waddington CBE and I build Socially Mobile over the past year.

We’ve set out a vision to build an executive education programme for the public relations industry. It’s a very specific intervention aimed at helping accelerate the career of practitioners from a tactical to a management role.

We also wanted to support practitioners from lower socio-economic backgrounds, as well as under-presented and under-served groups including black, Asian and ethnic minority practitioners, women returnees and those with disabilities.

The goal is support practitioners to increase their earning potential and begin to level up the diversity gap of 13,500 practitioners in the UK.

It’s an issue close to home. Sarah and I are both from a working class background. We both went to comprehensive schools and benefited from council grants to fund our university education.

Thank you to the organisations that provided sponsorship that along with investment from mine and Sarah’s companies has underpinned the seed funding for Socially Mobile.

Thank you to our teachers and trainers that have worked with us to develop the course content.

Thank you to individuals and organisations that have made personal donations.

Thank you to the practitioners that are helping define and develop our governance.

This award is dedicated to you all.

Socially Mobile opens today for applications for the first cohort in January 2022. If you know someone that would benefit, please point them in our direction.