Black History Month: The history makers of 2020.
Akeim Mundell BEM is making changes for the better in his community.
As we enter the latter half of Black History Month, we're shining a spotlight on the community heroes who are striving to make changes for the better in Greater Manchester
Akiem Mundell BEM has an impressive amount of accolades under his belt; from ambassador of Moss Side to pastoral leader, recruitment consultant to winner of a Manchester Peace award - he's packed an awful lot into his 26 years to date.
Akeim has been an active community worker in Moss Side and Whalley Range since the age of 13 when he decided to turn the tragedy of losing a friend to gun crime, into an opportunity to make a difference for the future.
"I started doing community work in 2007 when the gun and knife crime rate was very high in Greater Manchester.
"One of my friends was murdered one evening after school and that was the trigger for me to go out there and do something to lower the impact of more individuals' lives being taken.
"I built partnerships with organisations that the young people didn't have much trust in. Back then, Greater Manchester Police were seen as an organisation that younger generations in Manchester wouldn't usually communicate with, so I built a partnership with them, Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service and Manchester City Council - and we began to write proposals on how to occupy the younger generations."
Still a schoolboy himself, Akeim was given ÂŁ5,000 in funding to host under 18 events in the school holidays which marked the start of a long list of community initiatives he would go on to be involved with.
Since then, he's won multiple awards for his dedication to the cause - even receiving a British Empire Medal in 2016.
One of the projects he's most proud of though, is a recruitment page to bring job opportunities to the BAME community.
"I launched that in 2014 as part of my role as ambassador for Moss Side. I wanted to make sure that our community members were accessing the opportunities available.
"I created an online jobs group and every evening I dedicated 3 hours to posting all of the opportunities available. We now have 40,000 members on the group and to date; 650 individuals have gained full time jobs from it.
"It's helping to put people into employment and to give advice and support. Some evenings I deliver CV workshops and interview technique workshops for the community, in a way that they feel comfortable with."
Akeim's outlined his ambition to continue his work within the community, this year he successfully navigated the challenged of COVID19 in hosting the first ever online Caribbean Carnival which saw 16,000 people log in to mark the occasion.