Denise Rawls is the Executive Director of the National Network for the Education of Care Leavers (NNECL) a charity solely focused on creating educational environments where care experienced people thrive. Denise spent nearly three decades in the civil service, first delivering strategic communications and then foreign direct investment. She took this experience into the charity sector working in food redistribution, social enterprise development and the arts before joining NNECL in 2023 making her one of the handful of people, in leadership, in this space, who is care experienced.
NNECL began as a volunteer network in 2013, run by higher education institutions and national organisations committed to the progression and support of care experienced students in further and higher education. Today, as a registered charity, through their membership network and “gold standard,” Quality Mark, NNECL continue to connect, inspire and empower a community of nearly 800 practitioners with whom NNECL share their overarching ambition, for more care experienced young people to consider, access and be supported to flourish through further and higher education into fulfilling careers.
