Our work over the last year has been shaped by our commitment to listening to young people and those supporting them. A year on from our 3rd Need Analysis report Our City, Our Future 2023, we continue to put into practice the calls to action that were identified
Increased partnerships across the borough and a growing community of support for young people spanning businesses , statutory and cultural partners and our YWF members have enabled us to support and grow the work and programmes that young people themselves have told us are important.
From our Helping Hands project, supporting those affected by Serious Youth Violence, to our Mastering My Future Employability programme, preparing young people for the world of work, we are committed to ensuring that our Westminster community has access to the best opportunities and services.
At the heart of all our work are our members. Our Level Up Youth Work programme recognises the power of youth practitioners who continue to transform the lives of young people across the borough. We look forward to working closely with all our partners and supporters along with our members over the coming year .
Helen Mann
CEO, Young Westminster Foundation
YWF How We Work
We are a consistent SUPPORTER, friend and funder for all YWF Members
We are an ambitious and knowledgeable COLLABORATOR for Westminster City Council, businesses and wider partners
We are an active LISTENER for local young people and youth workers, responding to emerging needs
We are an engaged AMPLIFIER who works with those in power to advocate for local issues
We are a driven FUNDRAISER for investment in life-changing opportunities for young people and brighter futures
Members
Helping youth clubs and organisations to thrive through funding, training, partnerships, knowledge and research.
How we work with our members
As a membership organisation, we focus on supporting our members to be the best they can be through training, information sharing, advice, networks, research and advocacy.
Our members are local organisations who work passionately to enrich the lives of Westminster’s 54 000+ under 25s. From large youth clubs and local grassroots charities to specialist groups supporting young carers, young people facing homelessness and young people with disabilities. The types of provisions offered by our members include employability, personal development, youth voice, sports, wellbeing, creative arts and more.
FIND OUT MORE ABOUT YWF MEMBERS
116
YWF MEMBERS
Amazing youth organisations passionate about supporting young people in Westminster
157
PRACTITIONERS
Have attended a YWF event in the last year
114,101+
YOUNG PEOPLE AND FAMILIES
Have viewed Our City website to find out about Holiday Activities and Food Programme
Case Study
Level Up Youth Work
The ‘Level Up Youth Work’ programme addresses a critical gap in youth workforce development across Northwest London, where small, community-led grassroots organisations deliver a significant portion of youth services. Despite considerable national and regional investment in qualifications and training, these funds often fail to reach smaller community-led organisations.
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YWF received £848K from City Bridge Foundation via London Funder’s Propel initiative to deliver and lead the programme in partnership with six Young People’s Foundations (YPFs) across Camden, Ealing, Hammersmith & Fulham, Harrow, Kensington & Chelsea.
Across the partnership, 24 youth worker forums were attended by 339 practitioners. Four hundred and forty-five practitioners participated in 44 specialist training sessions covering topics like safeguarding, mental health first aid, autism awareness, and youth voice.
Locally in Westminster 62 youth and community workers attended forums and 78 practitioners received specialist training in vaping awareness, mental health first aid, healthy relationships, digital resilience and youth voice.
“It’s a situation and topic I’ve dealt with before, but now I feel much better equipped to have a constructive conversation with a young person about their relationships.” -Attendee Westminster, Healthy Relationships training
Next year the programme will create specialist networks of practitioners with expertise or lived experience in working with marginalised groups and aims to understand more about the barriers to obtaining qualifications in youth work.
FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THE LEVEL UP PROGRAMME
“We are pleased to note that YWF is not just a funding organisation but also a listening one and is prepared to use its privileged status to facilitate such important and critical conversations affecting our socially deprived communities.”
-Mosaic
Partnerships
We bring together youth organisations, young people, businesses, Westminster City Council, government, schools, funders and the wider community.
How we work with our partners
Since 2017 we have built partnerships with over 230 organisations in Westminster. We work in collaboration with partners to create opportunities (funding, space, advice, training, project delivery and in-kind donations ) for both members and young people.
Local organisations work together to design and deliver solutions to some of London’s greatest challenges including life plans, health and wellbeing, community and spaces, youth voice and social action through networking events and specialist commissioned programmes.
FIND OUT MORE ABOUT YWF PARTNERSHIPS
83
YWF PARTNERS
Have worked with us to provide funding, space, advice, training, project delivery and in-kind donations to the YWF community
339
YOUTH WORKERS
Attended youth worker forums to strengthen partnerships working across 6 YPFs
72%
OF MEMBERS
Surveyed reported working more collaboratively with members and partners due to YWF support
Case Study
Westminster Property Association
YWF partnered with The Westminster Property Association , a property company in Central London. Representing 240+ members, the Association brings together property owners, developers, occupiers and professional advisers into a collective voice to inform policymakers and drive the economic prosperity of Westminster.
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In 2023, Westminster Property Association partnered with YWF and committed to £255k for three consecutive years, to deliver a property focused programme specialism in Mastering My Future delivered by YWF member 2-3 Degrees.
The programme introduces young people to the property sector, provides access to Westminster’s built environment and supports local young people to access jobs and other opportunities linked to WPA member’s activities.
“This work is important. It doesn’t happen by accident. It takes commitment, partnership, and funding that’s reliant on the right economic and policy conditions nationally, and crucially for our sector, locally. YWF will help our partners collaborate to help deliver ‘good growth’ which can create a more inclusive City and spread social prosperity more equitably across communities.”
-Westminster Property Association
Funding
Generating long term investment for brighter futures in Westminster
How we distribute funding
In 2023/24 we have given out a total of £1,2m in grant funding to our members. This was through Westminster Brighter Futures grants, Helping Hands grants, the Holiday Activities and Food Programme and Westminster City Council’s Half Term Activity Fund.
FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THE WESTMINSTER BRIGHTER FUTURES FUND
£1.6m
FUNDING
Distributed to the sector through grants and commissioned projects
£387,946
GRANTS
Total amount of funding distributed through the Brighter Futures Fund
10%
INCREASE
In corporate funds raised for the Brighter Futures Fund from 157k to £172k
Case Study
The Howard De Walden Estate
Partnership between Young Westminster Foundation and Howard de Walden Estate at the Marylebone Summer Festival raised £40,000 to support young people in Westminster.
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Young Westminster Foundation (YWF) is proud to have been the charity partner for the Marylebone Summer Festival, hosted by the Howard de Walden Estate (HDWE). The family focused festival featured a variety of activities, including Fencing, Football, Boxing workshops delivered by YWF Member- Pro Touch SA, food stalls, dog shows and all-round great entertainment! All proceeds were generously matched by HDWE, raising a total of £40,000 for YWF’s Brighter Futures Fund.
“We have chosen YWF as our Charity Partner this year as their work aligns with our belief to focus charitable support within the local area – supporting the most vulnerable children and young people in neighbouring communities in Westminster. We know the work and knowledge of YWF ensures that our support reaches the young people who will most benefit” –Andrea Merrington, Director of Planning & Engagement at HDWE
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“This is one of the most important projects in Westminster that has benefited many children and young people from Westminster over the last few years. It is also one of the most accessible grants to small and local grassroots organisations like ourselves.”
–Queen’s Park Bangladesh Association
Brighter Futures Funders
Thank you to the following funders, The Aziz Foundation, Berkeley Estate Asset Management, British Land, Capital Arches Group, Derwent London, Eyre Estate, FM Conway, GPE, The Howard de Walden Estate, John Lyon’s Charity, Landsec, Shaftesbury Capital, St Giles and St George, Veolia and Westminster City Council.
Knowledge
Listening, learning and sharing
How we share knowledge
We work hard to sustain ourselves as a resilient, informed, go-to organisation for local expertise and knowledge. The YWF community seeks to advance borough-wide, and hyper local knowledge of the needs of young people in Westminster through conducting regular research and commissioned projects.
249
YOUNG PEOPLE
Shared their views, experiences and ideas via interviews, focus groups and surveys as part of the Needs Analysis
135
COMMUNITY MEMBERS
Shared insight locally around Serious Youth Violence as part of the Helping Hands Programme
464
FAMILIES
Shared their feedback/experiences, ideas and improvement for HAF provision through YWF surveys and interviews
Case Study
Our City, Our Future 2023/24 Update
Our City, Our Future 2023/24 is Young Westminster Foundation’s third peer-led needs analysis, covering the issues and experiences of young people growing up in Westminster today. To produce this report, we worked with a trained group of 15 young people as peer researchers, in addition to hearing from youth workers, practitioners and parents/carers through a series of focus groups and surveys, conducted in partnership with Rocket Science with support from the University of Westminster.
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Seventy-seven local young people, parents, members and partners attended our ‘Question Time’ launch of our third peer-led needs analysis report, “Our City, Our Future 2023”. The audience posed questions to a panel of local decision makers on issues that matter most to them e.g. knife crime, mental health, housing, the climate crisis, and job prospects in Westminster. Young researchers presented their findings, calling on the community to take action around the core themes identified. We continue to actively consult to ensure the research recommendations are embedded into the YWF community, having already commissioned key training on issues like social media and vaping to address unmet needs.
“Interviewing young people for this needs analysis, I realised that they know what they want, they understand what’s going on and they want to make a change. Whether for themselves or for the wider community. I ask all organisations to prioritise listening to what young people in Westminster have told us in this report when implementing change. I urge you to support young people in discovering what they are capable of and the power they hold to influence change. This will be vital in continuing to improve our community” –Peer Researcher
What’s Next?
Through continued listening, learning and collaboration with our YWF community we will continue to secure resources, build relationships and maintain quality delivery of programmes for the benefit of young people in Westminster.
WHAT CAN THE YWF COMMUNITY EXPECT FROM US IN THE YEARS AHEAD?
- Tackling Serious Youth Violence: to expand the Helping Hands project into the Northeast of Westminster.
- Following up on the Call to Action from our 2023 Needs Analysis.
- Level Up Youth Work NW London: to oversee and deliver a partnership project to develop the skills and capacity of the youth sector workforce across six North West London boroughs.
- Impact and Evaluation: to continue working with Westminster youth hubs and members on implementing a shared framework for impact and evaluation.
- Youth Voice programme: putting a structure to our existing programme to ensure young people continue to be at the heart of our work.
Financial Summary
Summarised Income & Expenditure
| 2018/2019 | 2019/20 | 2020/21 | 2021/22 | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | |
| Income (£) | 321,029 | 657,234 | 1,446,949 | 1,572,103 | 2,139,530 | 2,189,047 |
| Expenditure (£) | 341,903 | 706,274 | 1,362,610 | 1,415,310 | 1,996,377 | 2,046,699 |
| TOTAL FUNDS (£) | 161,071 | 112,031 | 196,370 | 353,163 | 143,153 | 142,348 |
Thank You from Brian
All that we do, and the positive impact we aim to bring to the lives of Westminster’s young people, is made possible by a unique collaboration of individuals and organisations from across the Young Westminster community.
Thank you to our members, partners and funders who help grow and sustain the fantastic offer of projects and programmes for under 25’s in the borough. And most importantly this year, thank you to our peer researchers and all the young people who shared their views to help shape the future of services in our city.
BRIAN BICKELL
CHAIR OF TRUSTEES, YOUNG WESTMINSTER FOUNDATION
