The Us Charitable Trust Summer Camp looks to enrich the lives of disadvantaged young people in North West London throughout their school holidays. We provide enriching educational activities, a space to socialise and make new friends, and healthy, nutritional meals for young people and their families.

This year, we teamed up with the Syria Summer Camp in Newman Catholic College to provide for more than thirty young people aged 10 to 15. The camp is deeply embedded in local communities with over 80 disadvantaged, recently arrived or refugee attendees aged between 4 and 18 Our collaboration ensured we were reaching the young people who needed our services most while still offering a jam-packed programme of activities.

SUMMER CAMP, 2022

Participants at the 2022 Summer Camp said: 

97%

of participants say they feel the camp improved their mental health and wellbeing

of participants said they enjoyed spending time with their friends

100%

100%

of participants said they would come back next year

100%

of participants said they enjoyed or really enjoyed the summer camp

Future Voice has been running across two schools in the 2021-22 academic year, working with over 250 students in Year 12 and 13. It is a comprehensive, student- designed careers and personal development package which seeks to improve quality of life while at school, and prepare for life after.

We look to inform, equip and support students in discovering and achieving their goals using over a decade of experience in the sector. We support schools by increasing capacity to enable weekly one-on-one mentoring to ensure no student slips through the net. Future Voice aligns curriculum-based knowledge with practical experiences to introduce students to a range of industries and career paths. We aim to give every student the tools to make a considered and informed decision for their next steps and leave school confidently.
 

FUTURE VOICE, 2021-22

"If it wasn’t for Matt and Tiffany, I can confidently say that I would not be where I am now. I’ve been given many opportunities ranging from exploring a university that excels in photography, all the way to being accepted for one of the most prestigious offers of work experience in the country; in this case it is working for the marketing team at Disney+. They have been wonderfully helpful, teaching me the necessities of how to perform under pressure in interviews and how to engage with the interviewer. They also have organised a giant careers fair, leading to hundreds of open doors for all our students. My friends and I appreciate this so much and I genuinely cannot express how thankful and grateful we are to Matt and Tiffany."

Future Voice Participant

CAREERS FAIR, THE CREST ACADEMY, 2022

In May 2022, The US Charitable Trust facilitated a successful careers fair at The Crest Academy for over 700 students aged 14-18, proving a huge success for attendees and employers alike. Students from Year 8 to Sixth Form had a chance to speak to employers, charities, apprenticeship providers, teams from top universities and so much more. 

The aim was to excite young people about their future and provide them with practical support to achieve their goals. On the day, the students could not only understand more about a huge range of careers but take tangible steps to progress towards that industry. Many of the employers offered access to sign up for fully subsidised places on training and work experience opportunities or camps and courses happening over the summer holidays. 

“The careers fair was a triumph. The students were so excited and felt so valued…This is going to have such an effect on the students. The short-term win is that the students know we care about them and secondly, when students know that the goal of being in school is to get a career they will enjoy,
they work so much harder.”

Oliver Elliott - Head of Sixth Form at Crest Academy, on their Careers Fair

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.

Over the course of the 2021 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

YOUTH CONFERENCE, 2021

"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

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

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.

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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.