London's Community and Business Leaders of Tomorrow to Bid for Funds From The Mayor's Fund for London and BE OPEN's City Pitch Project

- Secondary school pupils from six London schools are set to present their community-spirited ideas at City Hall in the finale of this academic year's City Pitch programme. Organised by the Mayor's Fund for London and BE OPEN, the international think-tank founded by Russian entrepreneur and philanthropist Elena Baturina, City Pitch encourages and helps young Londoners to learn new skills, while making a real difference in their communities. Students from each school devised community initiatives with the final six chosen to pitch their ideas to Dragon's Den-style panel of experts, that includes chief executive of the Mayor's Fund for London Matthew Patten, Olga Luzhkova of BE OPEN, Trudy Killcullen, chief executive of the Jack Petchey Foundation, Jamie McCloskey, founder of snack brand Love Corn and Bilal Khan of the charity and youth empowerment movement WE. Friday July 13, each school group will pitch to secure £1,500 funding to launch and help run their projects. The six schools and projects are: Says BE OPEN's founder Elena Baturina: "These ideas are proof not only that the next generation of leaders have a sound understanding of issues faced by their communities, but also how those issues should be tackled. With the encouragement to think about the world around them and the freedom to develop their ideas, young people prove that the future is safe in their hands."