Our history

The charity was founded as Youth at Risk in 1992 by Tony Morgan, businessman and former medal-winning Olympian, and Ben Rose, rising young human rights and criminal defence lawyer. Both shared a passion about making a difference with young people.

In the USA Tony had come across a methodology that was widely used in business but had now been adapted for work with violent young people in Chicago gangs. It was producing astonishing results.

Back in the UK, Tony and Ben persuaded the local authority in Enfield to give it a go. Youth Workers were very sceptical.  They didn’t believe for a moment that it would make any difference with the most violent and aggressive young people.

But they went along with the programme anyway, expecting little. But the outcomes were transformational.

Youth at Risk was launched.

The charity went from strength to strength, running programmes across the country. With supporters from Barclaycard to JP Morgan, to Marks and Spencer’s, the reputation of Youth at Risk grew. The Channel 4 documentary about the Ballet Hoo programme, where inner-city young people performed with the Birmingham Royal Ballet, brought Youth at Risk to national attention and was followed by Channel 4’s Orchestra United and the BBC’s Goldie's By Royal Appointment.

Our approach has proved endlessly adaptable. We’ve worked on a range of conflict resolution programmes in Belfast and Kosovo; in Young Offender Institutions; award-winning corporate partnerships with business leaders from Marconi, Deloitte and Touche, Lazard & Co; in schools and universities; and with Troubled Families.

In 2017 we became Grit: Breakthrough Programmes, a name that better reflects the clients we work with, and what it is we achieve with them.