Releasing the full potential of people - that has been the goal of Luton Training and Mentoring since its launch back in August 2003.... And that's exactly what the company has been doing, with great success, ever since! LTM was inspired by the tremendous successes of mentoring work in larger inner city areas in the UK and decided the time was right to bring community-based mentoring to Luton - and particularly to the Marsh Farm area.

Focused on improving the lives of young people and the most vulnerable within our communities, the organisation realised the desperate need for confidential advice, confidence-boosting training and specialist support and therefore invested its energies in developing customised mentoring and support programmes to inspire young people and support the wider community. Working hard to develop trust within the community, the aim of LTM has been to co-ordinate projects delivered BY local people FOR local people. By engaging parents, relatives, business people and other role models from society as volunteer mentors, the company has been able to make a massive impact on the lives of young people and the wider community.... All targeted at encouraging young people to understand and experience the benefits of learning, whilst also re-engaging the adult population in their own development activity.

The inspiration behind the business has always been to 'make a difference' to the lives of people, who for what ever reason have become disaffected within our society. The formation of LTM was achieved through Company Director Anjana Parmar's own personal determination to give something back to the community, driven by a belief that true success comes from within -from within an individual and from within a community. Learning has always been at the heart of LTM's activities, with Anjana finding the new-found confidence needed to develop her own business having recently completed her own programme of learning as a mature student. And it is this confidence that Anjana has tried to give back to the volunteer mentors and to the young people benefiting from the mentoring experience.

LTM fought hard to gain the initial backing needed to get such labour intensive activity off the ground. Following extensive research activity, identifying the needs of the local community and building the trusting relationships vital to success, LTM finally managed to gain financial support for a major project - Sowing the Seeds - to train adults from the wider community to become volunteer mentors. Supported by ESF-LSC co-financing funds, Sowing the Seeds enabled LTM to realise their dream; to offer a programme of specialist training to young people - supported by community-delivered mentoring - to encourage young people to stay in education and, more to the point, to enthuse them to try new learning opportunities. LTM was on its way!