About New Meaning
Since 2006 New Meaning has been working to help people build strengths and find meaning. Beginning as a not-for-profit business and project management consultancy it has gone on to become two companies, New Meaning Training and New Meaning Construction. They have a unifying purpose of helping people to construct a better life for themselves. Together they are building strengths, building lives and building futures.
New Meaning Training
New Meaning Training is an alternative education provision helping young people to find their strengths and develop the confidence and skills to earn their own living. Around 250 young people join one of three programmes each year, many having been referred by secondary schools, pupil referral units and Special Education Needs settings. It currently delivers five learning programmes; Construction Skills, Work & Study, Boost, Sports & Public Services and Achieve Life-skills, all of which incorporate functional skills qualifications (Maths and English). Since New Meaning Training opened its first centre in High Wycombe in 2015, the organisation is now supporting young people across Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire, Warwickshire, West Midlands and Berkshire.
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New Meaning Construction
The construction business emerged out of social enterprise business appraisal projects with registered social landlords. Now it has evolved into an active counter-part to New Meaning Training’s Construction Skills Programme, providing live project work experience and employment opportunities to graduates. New Meaning Construction is a licensed Beattie Passiv house builder, working with both social landlords and private individual self-build project managers. It also uses its off-site fabrication factory to build Little Additions (bespoke garden studios and extensions)
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Our Founders
DAVID LETT
New Meaning Co-founder, Joint CEO NMT and NMC, NMF Board Member
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In 1994 David’s mother died at the age of 51. The experience of this significant and sad life event started him on a path that eventually led to the development of what became New Meaning. David found himself looking for ways to make sense of his mum’s death and it was during his grief that he read Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl.
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“When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.” Viktor Frankl
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This preeminent psychologist and holocaust survivor’s work moved David deeply, leading him to his own degree in Psychology. In 2000 he started a management consultancy business that focused on people, behaviour and process change management. In 2006 he teamed up with John Evans and they started to create what are now known as New Meaning Training, New Meaning Construction and New Meaning Foundation.
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David devotes a larger proportion of his time to New Meaning Training and New Meaning Construction but also plays a key role at New Meaning Foundation as a founding trustee.
JOHN EVANS
New Meaning Co-Founder, Joint CEO of NMT and NMC, CEO of NMF (New Meaning Foundation, a registered charity)
If you’ve read David’s biography you’ll know that 1994 was a significant year for John to meet David. John was a Technical Development and Regulatory Affairs Leader in the Plant Biotechnology business sector while David was working in Global Banking in the City of London. Their first project together was while David was the General Manager for the UK division of Sysdoc, a NZ Business Consultancy. John was Sysdoc's Transformation Consultant, advising the GM and Senior Leadership Team at Chevron Texaco during their global merger. Despite being completely different in personality type, David and John enjoyed a great friendship, working together and studying psychology, together developing action learning materials enabling pro-active self-directed behaviour and attitude change adults, children at risk of becoming NEET (Not in Employment, Education or Training), poor performers and eventually ex-offenders and deprived communities.
John leads the New Meaning Foundation in the UK and Mojo Foundation, a Gambian charity with a similar mission. Since inception John and David committed to funding and leading charitable projects to help disadvantaged people find new direction, purpose and employment. Both charities are fulfilling this mission by building modern, comfortable SPACE homes in the UK for ex-homeless citizens while training those from hardship “on-the-job” and by building schools and community assets in The Gambia while supporting 25 families of colleagues who would otherwise be struggling on the bread line. Both borne out of the New Meaning journey, each with just the same emphasis of building strengths, building lives, building futures.
New Meaning Training, New Meaning Construction and
New Meaning Foundation (a registered Charity in England and Wales) are separate legal entities.
They share the same founders and the same overriding mission; to help others change their lives for a better future.