Five years ago, while volunteering in Brixton prison our founder, Stef Jones started to see some of the released guys he'd been mentoring reappearing on the wings. Why? In most cases because no one would give them a job so they'd gone back to what they knew and ended up where they started. Inside.

 

So he thought, if no one else would give them a job, he would. Together with Rob Love and Ian Priest they started the charity Onwards & Upwards in 2021 to train guys on the inside, on the outside and support them on all sides. The mission is to empty the prisons by breaking the cycle of reoffending through training, a belief and a family. And it seems to be working. The national reoffending rate is 55%. Ours is 2%.

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XO Bikes is our first venture, training guys in bike mechanics at our workshops at HMP Pentonville and HMP High Down, and outside in our shop on Lewisham High Street and servicing centre on Blackfriars Road. But the vision was always to start ventures and training programmes where there was interest and opportunity.

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XO Barbers is our second venture.  We began training in HMP Brixton in September 2025 and now offer training in the community, at our fantastic barbershop on Blackfriars Road.