User:Jamespattinson/David Gustave

David Gustave (February 23, 1967) is an English youth advocate, business leader and politician.

=Early life and education= David Gustave (b. 1967) is of mixed Irish and St. Lucian heritage. He was raised in Peckham, a mostly white working-class neighbourhood in London where he was forced to confront racism in the form of verbal and physical abuse from neighbours. He found his fists to be most effective in dealing with these confrontations. At 16, uninterested in, and uncompelled by his studies, he left school. That same year, unable to cope with a difficult relationship with his father, he also left home. Gustave spent the next 15 or so years finding a range of ways, sometimes illegal ones, to earn a living. At 30, al series of disturbing personal events sparked a desire to change the course of his life. He was encouraged and supported by his Union to enrol in an adult education course where he took ‘A’ level and undergraduate equivalency courses. Among the external readers of a research paper he wrote for one course was an Oxford University professor who was impressed by his work. The professor encouraged him to apply to Oxford, and at the age of 32 he enrolled as an undergraduate at Wadham College.

=Careers After Oxford, Gustave won a number of Scholarships from the Middle Temple to pursue a career at the Bar. It was here that he understood that he had the intellectual rigor to make a difference and decided that he wished to impart this knowledge at a street level. For the past 4 years Gustave has been working with young gang members at Kids Company as an Educational Motivator; he’s been doing the kind of youth work where those who have 'been there and done that', try to stop others doing the same themselves. Gustave has been described as a ‘Social Visionary’. His work with young people led him to feature in Channel 4’s ‘Disarming Britain’ debate alongside Dawn Butler, Dominic Grieve and Peter Hitchens. He also featured in the ‘CNN Heroes’ Series alongside Russell Symonds.

Gustave sees his career as work in progress. Not content to with fulfilling his own ambitions, he is determined to help others to set and reach theirs. Gustave has been described as the ‘British Obama’. This ‘British Obama’ tag has been repeated in the media. Gustave is a Director of Glue, a not-for-profit company where he co-designs and implements strategic projects, bringing his experience and insight to every facet of engagement with young people.

=Awards & Honours=
 * 2009: One of the 100 people who make Britain a happier place.
 * 2009: Elected Fellow of The Royal Society of the Arts (FRSA)
 * 2008: Evening Standard’s list of the 1000 most influential people in London
 * 2006: Featured in an award winning film by Barnaby Lancaster-Owen, which was screened on Channel 5 (Winner: Sheffield Five Film Competition)