Education-employment support for BAME young women

Rising Challenges across minority communities

It is well known that BAME  people face higher levels of inequality/exclusion and experience increased socio-economic disadvantage. 

It is a sad truth, that in the 21st century, discrimination and racial/religious inequality still presents a huge challenge for BAME people, which make up 40% of London’s population (Diversity UK)!  In a recent report by Partnership for Young London it was found that 45.2%  (just under half) of young Londoners experienced discrimination or inequality, highlighting a huge social issue that must be addressed in modern society. 

We operate within minority communities in North London, whose young women are excluded from the majority of local and national provisions. This translates into limited, accessible opportunities for the young women we support, which coupled with overcrowding, language barriers and pre-existing poverty & inequality, has resulted in historically high levels of deprivation and disadvantage, something which has been exasperated by the Pandemic (which has had a disproportionate effect on minority communities).

Our beneficiaries

Teen Action provides support to young women from minority communities, based in north Hackney and south Haringey, in areas that rank within the lowest 20% on the Indices of Multiple Deprivation. 

In excess of 90% of Teen Action beneficiaries’ homes are in receipt of Tax credits/universal credits, highlighting the extent of poverty and deprivation within the community.  Young people constantly deal with challenges such as poverty, lack of opportunities, overcrowding, poor employment and exclusion amongst others. A Holman survey of this community showed high levels of deprivation, such as, “56% of respondents could not afford at least two items defined as ‘essential’” and “Half of all families cannot afford for their children to have a holiday.”

Our vision

Our vision is a world in which all young people have equal opportunities, regardless of their ethnicity, abilities, socio-economic circumstances, or individual needs; and ease of transition to adulthood, employment, and independent living.

What we do

To this end, Teen Action provides accessible youth provisions for young women aged 15-19 years from disadvantaged minority communities, providing positive, accessible opportunities and supporting them to upskill towards employment, so as to empower the future generations of minoritised women and reduce deprivation and inequality.

Daily, we provide a range of programs, courses and support in line with 4 key areas: 

-    Transitions (employment and independent living)

-    Education

-    Skills Development, and 

-    Recreation.  

All programs are accessible, conform to relevant quality standards and are designed by users to enhance engagement and productivity.

Programs include career support, an independent living program, a range of accredited IT programs, a variety of craft courses, education (GCSE) support groups, post-18 accredited study programs, bi-annual retreats, soft skills development programs, summer scheme and counseling amongst others.

Teen Action takes a holistic approach, supporting excluded and disadvantaged young women with their emotional, social, intellectual and cognitive abilities and upskilling them towards employment - easing historically high levels of poverty, inequality and social deprivation within minority communities. 

Our Track Record

We closely monitor each provision, and our delivery as a whole, using the Triple F approach, which measures outcomes and outputs effectively.

For the 2020 year, these were our core outcomes:

(a)    Improved wellbeing (94% median across all provisions)

(b)    Increased confidence (91% median across all provisions)

(c)    Increased attainment (90% median across all provisions)

(d)    Increased employment rates (88% median across all provisions)

(e)    New skills (86% median across all provisions)

(f)    Increased creativity (79% median across all provisions)

We've been awarded a Gold Level London Youth Quality Mark, a quality assurance scheme, accredited by City and Guilds in recognition of our commitment to excellence. This has improved the way our organisation runs, our monitoring, provision for young people, organisational structure, project delivery and assessment, and ensures all projects run under relevant quality standards. We've also been awarded the 2020 London Faith and Belief Community Award under the category of ‘supporting women’.

To date, we have supported 1320 young women over 15 years of operation!

Future plans

For the year ending January 2022, we expect to engage with upwards of 250 young women across 18 different programs, with many beneficiaries participating in more than one provision.  Provisions will center on:

-     Closing COVID education gaps, through out-of-hours learning support

-     Relieving rising levels of youth unemployment, through upskilling and career support, as well as, 

-    Addressing rising levels of anxiety, depression, and poor mental health, through psychotherapy and wellbeing activities. 

We anticipate in excess of 1500 hours of delivery, including group provisions, courses, 1:1 sessions, retreats, and our annual summer scheme.

How your donation will effect change

Our full operating budget for the forthcoming year (ending 31 January 2023) is £200,000.

We have secured grants of £111,930 (and have some pending too at £25,585) to cover costs over the forthcoming year.  

Our shortfall (after assuming we secure a 1/3 of pending funding) amounts to £79,540, of which more than half is for core costs, which is difficult to secure funding for, but essential for the continuity of our charity and the delivery of our grant-funded programs.

We are hoping to raise £20,000 to cover project costs such as rent, a portion of annual staff/volunteer training, postage, printing, advertising and stationery costs so that we can continue delivering for young women.  (The remainder of the funding will be secured through grants from Trusts & Foundations and our annual fundraising reception.)

The funding is essential for the continuation of Teen Action as we reintroduce in-person provisions and support young women to build back in a post-Covid environment.

With much of the fundraising efforts in the past year focusing on immediate Covid provisions, we have not been able to raise sufficient funds for the 2022 year (something which we would normally do a year in advance).  This has put us in a situation where we have little financial security for 2022 and are rushing to bridge the gap and secure funding to cover basic operations so that the charity remains functional when we are needed most.

You can support young Londoners with your donation– every little matters!