What is BYB?
Baytree is a proud member of Building Young Brixton – a partnership of Lambeth-based youth organisations, working together to inspire and empower young people in Brixton to build the lives that they want. Since being founded in 2017, our aim has always been to grow together with shared expertise and resources, which means increased opportunities for the young people we serve!
Alongside Baytree these amazing Brixton and Tulse Hill-based organisations make up the BYB:
- The Advocacy Academy – a youth movement working to unleash the power of young people to create a more fair, just, and equal society
- Ebony Horse Club – a charity that helps to raise aspirations, education, life skills, and well-being of local young people through horses, outdoor activities and mentoring
- Grove Adventure Playground – an adventure playground offering activities, experiences and healthy food for young people aged 6-14
- High Trees Community Development Trust – an organisation at the heart of the Tulse Hill community providing open-access free play, youth activities and coaching to 10 to 18 year old
- IRMO – a community-led organisation that provides Latin Americans with tools and information in an empowering process to build secure, independent, and integrated lives in the UK
- Juvenis – a charity with a focus is on supporting young people from vulnerable and disenfranchised communities and especially those at risk of offending and criminal behaviours
- ML Community Enterprise – a community hub, provide a platform for youth to create new and positive identities for themselves, breaking free from identities such as ‘gang member’, ‘criminal’, ‘deprived’, ‘NEET’
- Spiral Skills – an organisation providing fun fiuelled career services and interventions, designed with the different needs and learning styles of young people at their core
All partners share a common goal in empowering young people and ensure that our services are youth-lead and informed. We ensure this through our Youth Steering Group (YSG), youth council meetings and creating an environment where individuals feel that they can voice their opinions.
BYB recently released an 18-month report, showcasing collaborative working and BYB in action. From bake-off challenges to sports days, BYB partners have come together to enrich the lives of the young people in our community.
Why Supporting Youth Matters
The latest deprivation data, from 2017, ranks Lambeth as the 9th most deprived borough in London and the 44th in the whole of England (out of 326). Around a third of a million people live in the borough, which includes areas such as Brixton, Stockwell, Tulse Hill and Coldharbour.
BYB Impact
From January 2019 to June 2020, BYB has supported 1030 young people – that’s a whopping 5603 hours of delivery! Through engagement with BYB, 736 young people felt their physical health, mental health and wellbeing had improved and 647 said they had better relationships with friends and family.
By partnering, BYB is able to offer a wide range of activities and services, including mentoring, education, horse-riding, therapeutic work and health and wellbeing support. This positive impact is valued by the community and we feel grateful to be a part of this fantastic partnership.
Click here to read the full report which includes success stories, collaborations and reflections.
COVID-19 Response
BYB created a shared resource which is full of activities to keep young people engaged and entertained at home. These included educational resources, alongside fitness and wellbeing activities. BYB also launched their own Youtube channel and even allocated a budget for activity packs to be sent out to young people.
BYB also listed resources for youth workers and held a ‘Share and Learn’ session where staff could share their mentoring resources and covid-relevant materials, including online activities and online safeguarding policies. In such unprecedented times, this session was invaluable to all members of BYB and enabled partners to continue delivering their sessions and support.
An ML Community Enterprise Staff Member said that: “collaborating worked very well. This allowed partners to receive peer support, share learning, resources and templates that simplified the transition of working to remote practices.”
What the future holds
In January 2020 a series of strategy workshops were held in order to develop BYB’s vision and targets for the next 3 years. Young people from across the partnership gave input into budget allocation and future goals.
BYB have great plans for 2021 – planning to increase Mental Health support to both young people and staff teams. With Baytree Centre taking the lead, BYB have looked at ways in which new and existing services can be developed to provide even better support.
