After Citadel had its anniversary last month, we caught up with some of the wonderful contributors and important organisations that Citadel have worked with the last 18 years.
Former Children’s Commissioner for England, Anne Longfield CBE, happily agreed to answer some of our questions about her experience working with Citadel.
What is your company/charity and what is your role within the company? How long have you been working there?
“We’ve been working with Citadel for most of its childhood and are delighted to have done so.”
“For me personally, this includes benefiting from the support of Citadel as CEO of charity 4Children, working collaboratively as Children’s Commissioner for England and more recently, collaborating as Chair of the Commission on Young Lives.”
What is your/the company’s relationship with Citadel and with its founder Jonathan Hopkins?
“Jonathan is a trusted partner to us in all things policy and influencing for young people. I first worked with Jonathan at the end of the nineties and continue to value his work.”
What are some of the main and key projects Citadel have worked on with you and what were the outcomes?
“We have worked with Citadel on the Youth Zone at party conferences since its inception – bringing together youth organisations and young people with political leaders to make the case for positive change.”
“As Children’s Commission and Chair of the Commission on Young Lives we worked closely on policies around youth workers in schools and new developments in the youth practitioner workforce.”
“In our next phase we will be focusing on a number of collaborations to improve opportunities and life chances for young people.”
Why is citadel such an important company?
“Citadel is important because it has detailed and long standing knowledge and understanding of social policy. This combined with unrivalled understanding and experience in public affairs.”
“Citadel cares about improving life chances and continues to work tirelessly to make the case and secure support for the measures needed to make that happen.”
What has been your favourite project/event you have done with Citadel or Jonathan Hopkins himself?
“Some of my favourite events have been at party conferences – often standing room only events with senior politician being questioned and held to account by young people about their policies and commitment.”
“Some of the best ideas have come out of those discussions.”
Why would you recommend Citadel to others?
“Citadel is one of those rare organisations that brings together extensive policy knowledge and public affairs experience to support organisations to super boost their profile, messaging and policy goals.”
“Jonathan has a forensic knowledge of policy and services and is directly plumbed into the policy machine across Whitehall, parliament and political parties as well as around the country.”
“Jonathan builds relationships with clients and decision makers with relentless commitment and determination to being about transformational change.”
“Happy 18th Birthday Citadel – we look forward to working with you for many years to come!”
Citadel 