About

I’m better known as ‘Mas’ - a name given to me by a 9 year old boy after my initials had been posted up for a cricket team I was representing at the time. In fact I’ve never really been known as ‘Mike’ but for the sake of keeping people happy with a ‘normal’ name it seems better than ‘Michael Amos-Simpson’ which takes far too long to write!

I trained in Sports Science, mostly because I loved playing sports rather than out of any desire for a career in the sports industry. Shortly after finishing University I took what I intended to be a short term job as a ‘Youth Development Worker’. As it turned out I stayed in that role for 3 years, along the way I also did additional jobs working with Young Offenders, Young Carers and a few occasional and temporary jobs in sports coaching and generally working with children and young people.

In the work I was doing I became interested in the need for training for young people aged under 16. Firstly out of a desire to find courses for young people I was working with, and then subsequently in developing some myself. I became involved with the Training Action Group for the National Association of Clubs for Young People, and about the same time I joined the National Communities Resource Centre with the task of setting up a national youth programme for them.

The programme became known as ‘Young Movers’ and it ran for 6 years working with groups of young people from areas of deprivation throughout the UK. The training involved practical activities all designed to help young people plan community projects back in their local communities. It was very successful, attracting attention on national TV and even a positive article in the Daily Express! It also featured in Woman’s Own, East African TV and we received a visit by the Deputy Prime Minister. Despite all of that, short sightedness led to funding for the programme coming to an end.

After Young Movers I ran a social enterprise called YoMo Community Interest Company for a couple of years through which some of the young people that first became involved with Young Movers continued to deliver training throughout the UK and Ireland.

Based on the various work I’ve been involved with I’ve published several resources designed to help groups of young people plan local community projects and activities. (You will soon be able to order copies of these through Incentives Plus).

Currently I’m the Chairperson of The YoMo Foundation - a charity set up specifically to support the projects we have worked with in Africa.

I’m especially interested in the use of practical activities towards personal development and in particular ’soft skills’, and I have a strong interest in how technology can assist in that development. I’m available for limited consultancy work and workshops but I’m always happy to chat over ideas so please do get in touch.

Contact Details

If you want to get in touch either email:

mas@digitalyouth.org.uk

or phone (and leave a message) 0208 133 2878

You can also follow my Twitter updates