DATA & REPORTS
ZENOBIA SCHOLARS, 2021-22
Zenobia Scholars is a student-designed project to assist 16-18 year old marginalised minority ethnic young women in Brent in pursuing STEM careers in higher education as they leave school. Now, living in Brent, they live in an area in the top 10% of deprivation, with a lack of schemes to provide soft skills training or support in securing their next steps.
Our programme helps to develop soft skills – primarily communication and confidence – as well as providing mentorship to help discover career paths, interests and mentoring to ensure each participant has a primary and backup plan for their future. We work with universities, employers and a team of female-led mentors through the Bridging Project to make sure specific skills and grades are optimised and university places are secured through UCAS.
95%
When we first designed Zenobia Scholars, we found:
of young woman respondants felt they needed help with UCAS.
90%
of young woman respondants were worried about achieving sufficient grades for a university offer
Over the course of Zenobia Scholars...
10% 100%
start
end
of participants feel confident in their future
57% 100%
start
end
of participants find school interesting
60% 97%
start
end
of participants are sure about the field they want to pursue
20% 97%
start
end
of participants say they are proud of themselves
100%
end
hold an offer for their next steps
SUMMER CAMP, 2021
After the success of the summer camp in 2020, we were asked by our Youth Panel to run one again this year. Though the young people had more continuous schooling during 2021, it was still far from ‘normal’. Bubbles in school meant socialising was limited and many were suffering from the ongoing effects of the pandemic: grief, trauma, economic uncertainty and mental health problems, particularly anxiety about the future.
Our Youth Conference held in June 2021 helped inform our response. We looked at Mental Health, Identity, Relationships and Consent and Careers. We’ve seen the numbers of English as an Additional Language (EAL) students rise significantly, from about 40% in 2018 to 90% in some age groups in 2021.
Read the US Charitable Trust annual report 2018 - 2020 by clicking on the image below:
Over the course of the Summer Camp...
10% 90%
start
end
of participants say they find school interesting
30% 80%
start
end
of participants say they have lots of good ideas
20% 75%
start
end
of participants say they are proud of themselves
10% 75%
start
end
of participants say they are socially comfortable and supported
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YOUTH CONFERENCE, 2021
We wanted the chance to give our young people a voice, to create a space where they could share their thoughts with us; their hopes, fears and dreams. We also wanted to find out how we could help. Where do they see themselves in five years’ time and what support do they need to get there?
The Conference was held at Newman Catholic College, Brent and ran over two days, divided by gender for discussion of some sensitive subjects. Our participants were aged 16-19. All of them use English as an Additional Language (EAL). We explored the subjects in different sessions led by experienced practitioners. We took detailed notes of discussion, filmed sections with consent and also received a more detailed questionnaire from each student for data.
"I think at times the conversations were opening students up to being vulnerable and hearing similar ideas shared by their peers gave them confidence to speak up about experiences of racism and space to consider the most important aspects of themselves. Overall it was a rich workshop on both days and it really felt like we turned on some metaphorical light bulbs!"
Georgina Bednar - No Ordinary Experience, Youth Conference 2021
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CHRISTMAS AT NEWMAN, 2020
Christmas food parcels were a great success, with more than 50 given to young people and their families. Due to the pandemic, it has been an even harder year for many families. The US Charity team contacted family and friends asking them to donate money to this incredible cause.
We partnered with Glaxo Smith Klein and Young Brent Foundation in providing sports equipment, toothbrushes and toothpaste for our packages. The teamwork was fantastic with the help of our alumni network. We are so grateful for all the generous donations and it is heart-warming to know that in such little time, we all came together and to spread the happiness and put a smile on young people’s faces.
Over the course of the 2019 Debate and Public Speaking programme...
80%
of participants say they feel they improved their time management and became more organised
80%
of participants say they feel like they belong to a community
100%
of participants say they feel like they improved their public speaking skills
90%
of participants say they feel like they gained an increased sense of wellbeing and happiness
100%
of participants say they feel like they developed better knowledge of current affairs
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IMPACT REPORTING 2018-2020
2020 was an incredibly challenging year for everyone, but particularly so for young people.
Our participants were already deemed ‘at-risk’ and economically disadvantaged. Research has shown lockdown affected poorer sections of society disproportionally in terms of physical and mental health, domestic abuse and access to resources. Brent was the worst effected borough in London, with 36 people dying in our immediate ward.
US was lucky to maintain communication with a percentage of our students during lock down and able to learn from them. It is vital we make sure that they know where to reach out to help and feel supported.
With this in mind, the US Charitable Trust kept a positive mind-set and did our best in supporting our young people in providing activities throughout 2020. The 2020 summer programme included a variation of activities which aimed to promote wellbeing and to develop transferable skills. Alongside our other programmes, we hope this encourages a positive attitude and skill-set ready for employment when they leave school.
This report covers our emergency lockdown response, our 2020 Summer Camp, our 2019 Debate and Public Speaking programme, our 2019 Urban Survival Programme, our October 2020 Half Term Youth Conference and programmes on set design, media and podcasting.