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The Harrison Centre for Social Mobility was set up in 2017 by David Harrison, one of the UK’s leading entrepreneurs and Chairman of UK financial technology firm True Potential LLP.
David achieved an MBA through The Open University and in 2013, he established a formal partnership between True Potential LLP and The Open University Business School to create a dedicated centre of excellence in financial education.
The Harrison Centre opened its first dedicated learning facility in 2018, based at the Beacon of Light sports and education centre in Sunderland. The Harrison Centre works with hundreds of young people annually across Wearside and the surrounding areas, providing the tuition and training they need to help them grow in confidence and secure a job. The Harrison Centre also supports a growing number of charities and organisations that aim to tackle low social mobility by working with young people and connecting them up to employment.
2022 saw the expansion of the Harrison Centre for Social Mobility business model, culminating in new Centres opening across northern England and overseas. This includes the first online Harrison Centre in partnership with The Open University, providing a curated series of freely accessible Open University courses to support learners as they develop a range of core skills, whatever their starting point.
In 2018, David co-founded the national Social Mobility Pledge, with former Secretary of State for Education, Rt Hon. Justine Greening. The Pledge encourages companies to commit to working with local schools and colleges, offer work placements and apprenticeships, and adopt open recruitment policies such as name-blind or contextual recruitment. To date, more than 700 organisations representing over 7 million people have now signed the Social Mobility Pledge, including major UK employers such as John Lewis, Marks and Spencer, Tesco, True Potential, Vodafone, KPMG and ITV.
If you want to learn more about the Harrison Centre for Social Mobility, please visit About HCSM - Harrison Centre.
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