JONATHAN AITKEN OUTSIDE HMP PENTONVILLE 2.3.21 by Graham Guy Barratt.jpg

Chance to Change Foundation is a charity that was founded in 2019 by The Revd Jonathan Aitken, Mick May OBE and Imam Shaffiq Din.

Chance to Change promotes the care, resettlement and rehabilitation of offenders and the prevention of crime. We work in prisons and in the community.

We aim to provide educational, training, and rehabilitation programmes within prisons and also to connect people leaving prisons with linked opportunities to find employment and to engage with supporters and mentors in the community who encourage ex-offenders to go straight.

Chance to Change's first major project is Friends of Pentonville. We work closely with the Governor Simon Drysdale, his Senior Officers, members of the Senior Management Team and Chaplains at HMP Pentonville. Approximately 63% of the prisoners at HMP Pentonville are on remand meaning they are awaiting their day in court.

Chance to Change has funded small projects within Pentonville. Our major objective is to support the Educational Proposals of Pentonville's ground-breaking Time4Change programme which has been running for over four years under Custody Manager Ricardo Lafuente-Dyer.

By far our largest project is the building of a XO Bikes Training Workshop inside HMP Pentonville in conjunction with XO Bikes which will train up to 30-40 prisoners a year in bicycle repair skills with certification. The factory was officially opened by His Majesty's Chief Inspector of Prisons Charlie Taylor on Monday 15 July 2024.

In the autumn of 2024 The Rt Hon John Bercow led an 8 week "Improve Your Public Speaking Course" for prisoners and prisoner officers. It was so successful that we hope to run two more of these courses in 2025.

Chance to Change's future plans involve setting up additional "Friends of" organisations based on the Friends of Pentonville in other prisons.

We are grateful for the donations we have received recently particularly The Saïd Foundation and The Goldsmiths' Company, City & Guilds and individuals such as James Scott, Shmail Khan and Rajeev Philip. Thank you.