Steven Barratt and Matthew Ebo
Here’s the story of Matthew Ebo, the Handsworth minister whose work for the community until now, has gone unnoticed. Now Matthew has been shortlisted for the active citizen category of Birmingham’s Local Hearts award, nominated by his friend and co-worker, Steven Barratt.
A lot of his work centres around the National Black Boys Can Association, a group for 9-16-year-olds which meets every fornight to help them with schoolwork and teach them good citizenship. Previously a Special Constable, he also works for the Central and West Victim Support Scheme – helping victims rebuild their lives.
Matthew was inspired by his baptist minister and mother, and he is now the pastor of the Church of God and Prophesy – he said his religious upbringing helped him and without his wife’s support now he could not spend so much time doing voluntary work. Here’s his story.
[podcast]http://podnosh.com/files/2009/10/Grassroots-Mathew-Ebo.mp3[/podcast]
[...] Matthew Ebo, a 2009 Local Hearts Award winner, interviews Jenny Miller about her work as part of a mentoring project in the Nechells area of Birmingham. The project is designed to assist young black people, primarily boys between 9-16 years of age, with their academic development at the same time as addressing educational underachievement. [...]