Young Brent Survey

Young Brent Survey
Needs Challenges Opportunities
Connect Collaborate Succeed
Young Brent
Foundation
With Support From

Authors &
Researchers
Jean Collingwood
Jacques Strum
Nicolas Boireau
Paul Milner
Ingenious Group
Acknowledgement & Thanks
The Goldsmiths’ Company
Monica Kaur, Senior Engagement Officer, Old Oak
and Park Royal Development Corporation
Richard Hay and Bola Olatunde, Chief Executive’s
Department, Brent Council
Panagiotis Chatzimichail, Policy Officer, Youth for
Exchange and Understanding International,
European WYRED 2000 Project
Young Brent Foundation Members
Brent’s Voluntary Sector

1
CONTENTS
Old Oak and Park Royal Development Corporation (OPDC)
Young Brent Foundation
Ingenious Group Research
Executive Summary Needs, Challenges, Opportunities
Key Recommendations
Part one: Young Brent Foundation Members Survey
Part two: Young Brent Foundation Members Workshop
Part three: Results Others VSO in Brent Community
Part four: Young People's Focus Group - Brent Council
Useful Information
Young Brent Foundation Members Directory
Brent Crime Hotspot Map
2
3
4
5-9
10
11-24
25-30
31-41
42-44
45
46
47

2
OPDC
Old Oak and Park Royal Development Corporation (OPDC) and the Old Oak and Park
Royal Opportunity Area.
OPDC is a Mayoral Development Corporation established in April 2015 to oversee,
coordinate and drive forward regeneration and development of the Old Oak and Park Royal
Opportunity Area. OPDC is the Local Planning Authority for the Old Oak and Park Royal
boundary and part of their responsibilities include the production of a Local Plan for areas
within Brent, Ealing and Hammersmith & Fulham.
OPDC has been in existence for two-and-a-half years and the draft Local Plan represents a
huge step forward for the Corporation in beginning to shape the area.
Old Oak and Park Royal is the UK’s largest regeneration project and most successful
industrial location. It can provide unparalleled opportunities for the UK, London and local
communities. The area is set to be transformed into one of London’s key destinations,
better connected than anywhere else in the UK, with the HS2/Crossrail super-hub station
due to open in 2026. This transformation brings with it significant opportunities to deliver
much needed homes and jobs that can support London’s growth. New communities will
grow up supported by a full range of infrastructure and services. However, the area needs
to not only be a place to live and work, but one to visit and enjoy, time and again.
In November 2015, the Mayor adopted the Old Oak and Park Royal Opportunity Area
Planning Framework (OAPF), which sets out a clear strategy for the redevelopment of the
area around the planned Old Oak Common Station, whilst also outlining the need to
protect and intensify Park Royal as a key cog in London’s economy.
The Local Plan will help to set those key parameters to allow a great new place to develop
and change over time. The many pieces of work the planning team has progressed will
ensure that the approach we take across Old Oak and Park Royal is the right one and that it
delivers best practice, an innovative and sustainable approach.

3
Young Brent Foundation
The Young Brent Foundation (YBF) began in 2016 as a Young People’s Foundation set up by
John Lyon’s Charity to address local needs, against a backdrop of wide-ranging reductions
and structural changes to the funding landscape.
YBF was developed from the roots up as a community-led membership organisation, with a
shared vision and the aim of sharing skills, local know-how and resources across Brent’s
voluntary youth sector.
AkeyfoundingaimofYBFwastocreateasuccessfulpartnershipmodelthatwouldcreate
astrongunitedvoicebyunitingafragmentedanddiversevoluntaryyouthsector.Itequips
members with the training, resources and financial support they need to increase overall
capacity and develop a more sustainable future to benefit young people.
As an umbrella charity, it aims to access and disseminate a wider range of funding channels
to support its members in a way that individually smaller organisations and groups could
not do alone. YBF supports its members through a wide range of practical tools and
targeted initiatives, including Impact Monitoring, Mentoring and Skill Sharing, a Small Grant
Fund, Venue Bank, Quality Marks and Standards and Consortia Development.
YBF's primary goal is to work with its members and other local stakeholders to utilise and
maximise local know-how, sector-wide expertise and people power in order to develop
greater sector-wide capacity. By doing so, it aims to meet its parallel goal - to attract and
secure large-scale funding and inward investment into the Borough that will benefit Brent's
young people.
As a membership-led organisation, it is free to join. It is also fully inclusive and open to any
group or individual who is working for the social benefit of young people in Brent.
YBF encourages its members, partners and other stakeholders to connect, collaborate and
ultimately succeed through both targeted programmes and interventions.
Today, YBF has more than 100 members that are voluntary sector partners. Combined,
they deliver an average annual turnover of approx. £81 million a year.

4
Ingenious Group Research
Ingenious Group (IG) is a multi-award-winning Charity Management and Communications
firm that works exclusively to achieve social impact in the not-for-profit sector.
Its journey began in 1998 when a group of like-minded charity management leaders
developed a collaborative talent pool and network with a shared commitment to smart
working project management. Their aim was to make expert support accessible to
worthwhile projects and organisations. IG’s pioneering framework closely matches the
skills, personal/social interests and passions of their not-for-profit professionals, and then
assigns and matches them to organisations where they can deliver social impact. For the
last 18 years, the group's satellite network has remained at its core and has enabled us to
deliver expertise and support that is both affordable and accessible to some of Britain’s
most worthwhile, challenging causes.
IG’s vision is to achieve greater collaboration between all of the sectors for the common
social good, and to see a world where all good causes can access an expert service that is
affordable, regardless of an organisation’s size, income or status.
IG researchers use traditional marketing techniques, data, stakeholder research and
analysis, as well as the science of social anthropology. This helps us to better understand
social groups and the wider community so that we can support accurate segmentation,
adoption and ultimately engagement for either social impact or improvement.
Anthropology uses the comparative studies of different cultures and makes cross-cultural
comparisons. It also examines, interprets, analyses and compares the results of
ethnography - the data gathered. This allows us to compare and contrast different societies
and cultures. We augment our data and research within this context, commentary and
analysis, which helps us to anticipate social trends, identify risks and provide a better
forecast of future changes.
This intelligence and science is applied to both understanding and predicting the likely
responses of stakeholders to risk and rewards mixes, and to improving the design of
behavioural change or engagement programmes to maximise adoption.

5
Executive Summary
This report provides the results of a sector-wide survey, which identified the key needs,
challenges and opportunities of voluntary sector organisations supporting young people in
Brent.
The research was commissioned by Young Brent Foundation, with support from The
Goldsmith’s Company and Old Oak Park Developments.
The aim of the research and survey was to enable Young Brent Foundation (YBF), as a
relatively new umbrella membership charity at the time, to identify the key issues and
needs of its membership – largely local Voluntary Sector Organisations – supporting young
people aged 0 -25 and their families in Brent. YBF aims to do this by profiling and mapping
the key findings and members' end-to-end needs, to enable YBF to focus and direct its
support to the key areas of greatest need to improve overall impact.
Alongside this, the research contrasts the needs of YBF members against other local VSOs
working with young people in Brent who are not members of YBF. The research also takes
into account secondary research carried out by Brent Council on the needs of young
people living in Brent.
Methods Process and Methodology
Research key groups:
Young People – secondary research, Brent Council; conducted in March 2017.
Young Brent Foundation members – via surveys and a PRA workshop; April to June 2017.
Other Voluntary Sector Organisations – (non YBF members) via surveys; May to June 2017.
The research was conducted out over a four-month period overall, designed as a snapshot
in time that compared and contrasted the unique needs of YBF’s members against those of
other youth sector organisations operating in Brent and working with young people in the
same period and geographical locations. The research aimed to uncover the key issues that
impact on the services delivered to Brent’s young people.
Methodology and Limitations
Telephone surveys and online surveys were used as they offered greater uptake and
participation; however, self-reported data by its nature cannot be independently verified.
Some respondents generated a large amount of free text data in their responses, which
provided significant insight into the nature of their needs. This could not be analysed into
meaningful data as such, but it was included within sections of our report to provide added
value and a greater degree of detail and context to key findings.
Four topics featured prominently in the outcomes of the survey with all three groups.
Space
Lack of community signposting
Funding
Violence and gangs

Executive Summary
6
About Brent
Young Brent Foundation members operate in a dynamic and unique local environment – one
that consistently attracts new investment, new business, new visitors and new young residents.
However, this also brings a unique set of opportunities and challenges.
Young, diverse and densely populated
Brent has a population of 317,264 and is the most densely populated outer London borough,
with a population density of 74.1 persons/ha. It is also predominately young – in 2014, 35.1% of
Brent’s population was aged between 20 and 39. Nearly a fifth of the borough’s population was
under 19 when they arrived in the UK – the highest in England and Wales.
Brent is also ethnically diverse, with 65.0% of its population from black, Asian and minority
ethnic (BAME) backgrounds.
Language and cultural barriers and diversity
A2011schoolcensusfoundthat149languageswerespokeninBrentandshowedthatEnglish
was the main language in only 57% of Brent households. This was the second lowest rate for
any borough in England and Wales. This means there is a large proportion of households
where no one is able to speak English.
Compounding language barriers and cultural diversity, a key challenge for YBF members is one
of constant change to overall service user demographics. This is because many younger, lowerincome
families move from inner to outer London to find affordable housing. This creates an
ever-changing turnover of young people and their families moving in and out of the borough.
Brent is an area of social deprivation and has the highest proportion of housing benefit claims
by private tenants in the country as a percentage of all households, according to the Financial
Times. Brent is also ranked third in an NCB Poor Beginnings report, 'Health inequalities among
young children across England' (National Children’s Bureau report, 2015).
Rising child poverty, lack of language skills and lack of community spaces for your people,
combined with a fragmented voluntary sector and infrastructure, creates multiple challenges.
Obesity
In Brent, 13.4% of children in reception (4 to 5-year-olds) are obese. Brent is also the joint
fourth worst borough in London for levels of child poverty. Save the Children report that 11,000
children are impoverished. The median household income in Brent is currently the third lowest
in London. One in every three children in the borough is living in poverty, and this increases to
50% in our most deprived wards.
Employment
Most of the employment opportunities for young people in the borough are either in the
construction industry, which is booming locally or in small and medium-sized enterprises. This
creates a unique dynamic and entrepreneurial environment. Many YBF members create
accessible routes to employment skills and training opportunities. Members like UltraKids also
deliver innovative and entrepreneurial micro-business training both in schools and online.

Executive Summary
7
YBF members, through providing better routes to training and employment along with
innovative health interventions, enable young people and their families to live healthier lives
and reduce health inequalities.
Many YBF members working at grass roots levels to tackle disadvantage have had to adapt in
recent years, as they face significant reductions in the proportion of funding that comes from
grants and other funding.
YBF members and Brent’s voluntary sector overall is proud of its historic ability to welcome and
support people from different communities.
Arts Performing
Dance
Out of School
Childcare
Disability
Overseas Support
Clubs Groups
Faith Based/Religion
Educators /Schools
Carers
Family Support/parenting
Sports (all)
Crime/Prevention
Health/Mental & Wellbeing
Tuition
Community Support
Mentoring
Training Skills
Drama
Music
Volunteering
Funding YBF members
Young Brent Foundation members surveyed were mostly well-established charitable
organisations. Members greatest daily challenge was generating income, finding
funding sources to meet their core running costs and balancing tight budgets. Most
members considered that their funding was too short-term and so closely targeted on
programmes and outcomes, to carry out specific pieces of work and interventions. But
members commented in free text data sections that their funding did not allow them
to progress beyond short-term goals, so there was not sufficient funding to build
capacity to grow, meet new needs or to sustain or build further relationships with
young people beyond the basics.
Some members stated that their funding was too restricted and, in some cases, ended
too early in the intervention cycle. Members reported during the workshop sessions
that often their breakthrough moments with young people came along at the same
point of their funding ending, which limited the long-term impact and progress that
could be made.

Executive Summary
8
While the average YBF members reached on average 100 young people a month, some
members operating in some areas of Brent struggled to keep up with demands for their
services. Many had waiting lists, with more young people needing their services than they were
able to offer.
81% Members
Reach 100
Young People
amonth
60%
Are Charitable
Organisations
YBF
MEMBER
Needs Challenges
&opportunities
Survey
1/3
Quality
Standards
86%
1+ Years
old
Employs 6Staff
&manage
11 volunteers
Quality and Impact
Building capacity and becoming commission ready was seen as a key challenge to some
members.
Many YBF members fully understand the need for becoming commission ready, with just over
athirdofmembersworkingtowardsattainingatleastoneleveloftheLondonYouthQuality
Mark.
Measuring impact varied widely among YBF members, with many organisations using usercentric
evaluation based on listening to and responding to feedback forms as performance
indicators, relying on before and after outcomes, etc. Some members relied on hard outcomes,
including the numbers of young people getting into employment, coming off and staying off
benefits. None of the respondents reported using theory-based evaluation including Theory of
Change or how or why activities are thought to work or not work and lead to impact.
Voluntary Sector Organisations outcomes
Voluntary sector organisations surveyed, i.e., organisations that were not YBF members at the
time of the survey, had needs that were markedly different to YBF members. Turnovers were
relatively modest, with half with incomes of £10,000 or less, with a third of incomes of VSOs
surveyed coming from contract income. Funding advice was featured as a key need of this
group.
Many VSO organisations groups were more traditional, youth-focused organisations like
Brownies, Scouts, etc. Many were managed by a parent and/or head office, which meant many
of the general management functions carried out by YBF members – like governance, longterm
planning and financial management – did not feature in their daily needs or functions.

Executive Summary
9
Voluntary Sector Organisations outcomes
66% VSO had no contract income
86% VSO had the same or growing needs
29% VSO were reducing services
14% VSO were at risk of closure
Zero % VSO were growing or expanding services
50% VSO had mission drift-funding incompatible with objects
Many VSOs had scaled down their operations and were showing signs of decline, with none
expanding their services. When asked about their daily needs, 40% saw face-to-face advice and
consultation as their greatest need (see page33)..
Summary of key topics raised by all groups surveyed.
Space
Lack of affordable space for service delivery was a key issue affecting YBF members, while
other VSOs felt that there was a lack of space generally for young people to go to receive
face-to-face services or socialise with peers. Young people’s feedback also saw space as a
prominent issue. They wanted more outdoor and unstructured time-out spaces where
they could let off steam, be noisy or get exercise in a sport to get away from their homes
and computers.
.
Lack of signposting
YBF members in the workshop outcomes identified poor signposting as an area of
weakness and VSOs raised postcode barriers. Both groups raised poorly joined up service
provision. The YBF Directory of Members was cited by both groups as an important
milestone and step towards addressing local needs of young people and their families.
Gangs and violence
Rising gang violence and crime were prominent outcomes of great concern across the
entire Brent community and were raised by all groups surveyed, including young people
themselves. Rising crime with YBF members was closely linked with lack of spaces within
the borough and the closure of several youth community places (see pages 24 and 41).
YBF members also raised concerns that rising violence affected the daily running of their
services. Fear of gangs and travel in known gang territories prevented some parents and
young people taking up services, There was fear for staff safety, with added costs to add
security to ensure staff were safe and supported. Both YBF members and other VSOs
thought more action from the community overall was needed to address rising crime.
There was also a clear linkage made by all groups of rising crime linked to areas of social
deprivation. It is clear from the map of YBF members on page 46, and on the map of
gangs and crime on page 47, that both are operating side by side. YBF members are
operating in areas of greatest need and public benefit.

Executive Summary
10
Key Recommendations
The following details our recommendations from the key findings within the report.
Funding
It is recommended that further study is carried out in order to gain a deeper
understanding of YBF members’ funding sources. This could include a breakdown of
members' income from key sources, including contracts, charitable grants, commercial
income, etc., and a study of the appropriateness of the methods being employed by
members to generate income. This would assist with forecasting the best way to
support capacity building and the targeted design of best-fit fundraising support.
VSO Funding – contract readiness
The report and findings suggest there is a substantive need for investment and
resources to help VSOs increase their overall capacity so that more VSOs can increase
their contract income by becoming contract ready.
Mission Drift
While Mission Drift featured in the outcomes of VSO group research, further research is
highly recommended across the sector in Brent to further explore both its cause and
effects.
Further work in this area would enable YBF and others in the community to deliver
valuable benefits towards a mutually beneficial goal: increasing overall impact.
Research could identify areas of key gaps in provision. Grant makers and
commissioners with funding to invest in key work streams and identified needs that
are not currently being met. This could also examine areas of overlap, excess and map
provision.
In light of these findings, seek to address the overall balance across Brent, by
improving compatibility and moving towards better meeting both parties needs. By
addressing this issue, reduce duplication of effort, and the scale of needs that are not
being met and a negative drain on a valuable resource. A key feature of Mission Drift.
Quality Standards
Further work is recommended in order to investigate and track quality standards. The
level of progression and attainment by YBF members, particularly the timescales of the
members’ journeys from a starting point to becoming contract ready, needs to be
looked at.
Impact Measurement
The impact measurement responses showed a mixed approach on how members
measure impact. It is recommended that further work is carried out across
membership to explore and develop best practice models, that can be tailored and
integrated into the existing needs of members work while delivering meaningful
benefit, a deeper understanding and confidence of using Theory of Change and other
recognised models.

YOUNG BRENT FOUNDATION
MEMBERS
SURVEY

Header Part oneTextYBF Members Survey
121
Question 1. What best describes your organisational structure?
Findings : 58% of Young Brent Foundation Delivery Partner Members were Charitable
Companies or Charitable Incorporated Organisations (CIO).

Part one
YBF Members Survey
13
Question 2. How Long has your organisation been operating in Brent?
Key Findings:
14% were new or under a year old
27% (just over a quarter) of members had been operating for one to three years
33% of members were established for 10 or more years.
86% of all members were established for longer than a year.
This suggests that YBF members were well-established in the community overall.

Part one
YBF Members Survey
14
Question 3. Please state how many staff and volunteers deliver your service each year?
6
Staff
11
Volunteers
Staff & Volunteers of member organisations
The overall results showed that on average Young Brent Foundation
members employed 6 staff with 11 volunteers to deliver their work.
The size and scale of the staff employed, compared to the number of
volunteers varied, with some organisations employing no staff and
others employing 30 staff.
The number of volunteers also varied and ranged from none to 42
volunteers per organisation.
The volunteer to staff ratio suggested that members, on average,
generate double their economic benefit into the Brent community.

Part one
YBF Members Survey
15
Question 4. How many young people does your organisation support in an average month?
Findings:
81% of YBF members supported 100 or less young people each month.
Just over a third (37%) supported 50-100 young people a month.
11% reached more than 500 young people.

Part one
YBF Members Survey
16
Question 5. Please rank your organisations greatest challenges?
Findings
Overall, the results showed there was a wide range of daily management challenges.
Income generation and the balancing of budgets were considered to be the greatest
challenge by the members surveyed.
Responses to space suggested that space for delivery was considered to be more of a
challenge than finding venue space.
The recruitment of volunteers was less of a challenge than managing them.
Key Recommendation: Itisrecommendedthatfurtherstudybecarriedoutin
order to gain a deeper understanding of YBF members’ funding sources. This
could include a breakdown of member income from key sources, including
contracts, charitable grants, commercial income etc. and a study of the
appropriateness of the methods being employed by members to generate
income. This would assist with forecasting the best way to support capacity
building and the targeted design of best-fit fundraising support.

Part one
YBF Members Survey
17
Question 6. What quality standards do you have or are you working towards?
Just over a third (35.7%) had or were working towards the London Youth Quality Mark,
while 21.43% were working towards Approved Provider Standards.
Alowernumber(28%)ofmemberswereworkingthroughtheirNCVOmembership.The
NCVO supports organisations with a number of quality standards, including Approved
Provider Standards (APS), Investing in Volunteers (IiV), Investing in Volunteers for Employers
(IiVE), PQASSO self-assessment and accreditation Volunteer Centre Quality Accreditation
(VCQA) standards.
Interestingly, members who selected "other" accounting (42.89%) provided details in Free
Data Text. This showed that approx. 50% of this group were working towards standards
that directly related to their area of work. For example, FA Charter Standard Accreditation
(Football) or Arts-related Standards. The other half of the same group who selected "other"
stated that they either welcomed or "knew of standards”. This suggests that they were not
actively working towards any standards at the time of the survey.
Key Recommendation: Furtherworkisrecommendedinordertoinvestigateand
track Quality Standards, as well as the level of progression and attainment by YBF
members, particularly the timescales of the members’ journeys from none to
becoming contract ready.

Part one
YBF Members Survey
18
Question 7. Please explain how you currently go about measuring impact?
“
We collect verbal and written
feedback around key indicators
and outcomes regularly, formally every
quarter. Weneedtoadaptbetter
methods for this. Key issues: lack of
affordable sports, arts and community
provision for disadvantaged children and
young people. Lack of physical activity
and longer-term physical and mental
health implications.
”
“
Case studies and questionnaires
quarterly. Providing services at a cost young
people can afford.
”
“
For the past 20 years, we have
completed an annual monitoring
and evaluation exercise. This we
do to ensure that we stay focused on
“
Participation surveys at the end of a
project. Managingprioritiesand
school/college work, access to opportunities,
traveling late and personal safety. We address
these by supporting young people to manage
projects/coaching, voucher reward system,
reimburse travel fares, etc.
”
our mission and that our programmes
remain relevant. We also do periodic
reports (every 6 weeks) and report
back to our board of trustees.
”
“
Our database, outcome star,
regular surveys and 1-to-1
feedback capture individual
progress made against set
targets. Let it gained skills,
employment, sustainability, improved
health and well-being, reduced
criminal activity and social
involvement/action, among others
(different projects have different
measures).
”

Part one
YBF Members Survey
19
Question 7. Continued - Measuring Impact
“
Evaluation forms and a carers star which gets
looked at periodically through the young carers time
with us to see if there have been improvements in
different areas in their We are rolling out the use of
lives.” “ Rosenberg's Scale.
”
“
We
measure our impact based on tangible outcomes,
mainly employment. Weworkwiththeyoungpeople
we train for a minimum 6 months after training completion to
support them with further employment opportunities or
training. 98% of our graduates are placed on a minimum 4
weeks work placement at one of the partner companies and
82% are still working in the TV and media industry a year after
completion.
“
Measuring
”
“
We
will evaluate the work every quarter, using an
evaluation framework that makes clear what aims
and objectives were, the differences we hope our project is
making (i.e. the anticipated outcomes) and the criteria we will
use to check we have made these differences (i.e. people
undertaking work experience placements, people
entering into sustained employment,
people coming off of benefits and onto reasonable
levels of pays combined with tax credits). Staff will also monitor
the changes in the young people, for monthly reports and
supervisions with Senior Management, ensuring appropriate
activities are being undertaken to enable the outcomes to be
achieved. We will also use feedback forms,
discussions with the young people and the Users’ Group to
monitor how the young people themselves feel they are
developing.
”
our impact is through verbal
feedback, evaluation forms. Inourfitness
activities, this is done on a weekly basis, in our creative
activities, it is done at the end of a session/event.
”

Part one
YBF Members Survey
20
Question 7. Continued - Measuring Impact
“
We follow the numbers of participants to
funders and use Young people evaluation and
“
Application
feedback aligning activities to funding criteria.
“
Registers
”
to measure session attendance Collecting
demographic information Questionnaires
Pictures and video Written reports &Statistics
Key issues Mental health Family breakdown Negative Peer
pressure Lack of positive activities 7 days a week Housing
pressure Inflexible and inadequate education.
forms, register, interest forms, pictures and
video where possible, evaluation forms, case studies.
”
”
Other Responses
“
As they are underachieving we offering on-going academic
support - For those out of education, employment and
training (NEET ) we offer intensive information, advice and
guidance.
”
“
The key issues for our young people is developing their
self-confidence and sense of independence. Youth
nowadays can lack the positive energy and motivation
which they require in order to tackle issues later in life. The
scouting experience seeks to give them to groundwork
towards approaching any challenge and adversity with a
sense of calm and confidence.
”
Key Recommendation
The impact measurement responses, showed a mixed approach on how
members measure impact. It is recommended that further work is
carried out across membership to explore and develop best practice
models, that can be tailored and integrated into the existing needs of
members work, while delivering meaningful benefit, a deeper
understanding and confidence of using Theory of Change and other
recognised models.

Part one
YBF Members Survey
21
Question 8. What is your annual turnover this year?
£86,000
The figure above is the average turnover across Young Brent
Foundation member organisations who responded in Q8.
Turnovers ranged from the lowest at £2,000 per annum to as high as
£500,000 per member organisation. One respondent submitted an
annual turnover sum of £1.5 million; however, this was not used in
any calculations as it would have falsely inflated the overall average
turnover across the respondents.

Part one
YBF Members Survey
22
“
“
Question 9. Please describe what you see as your greatest challenges over
the next 12 months?
“
Capacity
FUNDINGSecuring sizeable
grants/contracts -Capacity-regardinghumanresourcesand
venues There are opportunities to increase provision and build
capacity but it is difficult to access when you are a rather new charity
and limited resources.
“
Securing consistent SPACE,
funding and managing governance. Key
opportunities exploring wellbeing, education
and heritage projects.
”
”
“
Funding and resources - increasing awareness,
Ability to facilitate growing numbers. Resources needed to
address these issues would be money and staff. Our
numbers grow but our funding doesn’t.
to deliver is our greatest challenge. Meeting demand
and need of services. Organisational structure. Funding for
core costs vs projects. Ourstrengthsarethatwearerootedin
the community - Led by, delivered and understanding of local people.
Insight and local knowledge. Untapped potential of young people,
staff and volunteers. Highly skilled staff and trustees.
“
Retaining
“
We will need affordable spaces to deliver. Weareworkingin
partnership with other organisation's to deliver projects to their young
people however need the flexibility to deliver in spaces at the times and
dates needed to develop our business. We need spaces that are suitable for
delivering training and dance.
STAFF Challenges retaining
volunteers with a team working attitude
and time to develop themselves and deliver
services locally.
”
staff Managing growth
Diversification of income Becoming
commission ready.
”
”
”
”

Part one
YBF Members Survey
23
Question 10. What big things keep you up at night?
Funding
“
Short-term funding does not enable any organisations to build up and sustain
relationships with young people. The emphasis is on targeted youth work. Building trust
and relationships is a long-term strategy.
”
“
Our lack of funding impacts our ability to deliver more quality in programmes. Our
lack of dedicated volunteers sometimes makes it difficult to meet the required
ratios from a safety perspective.
”
“
Securing core funding is my biggest concern. My ongoing concern up to the
formation of YBF was poor partnership working relationships in Brent and the
insular working practices of many young organisations working with young people. I
believe this is a key factor as to why so many young people find themselves
isolated. The other being poverty in the community and fear of gangs. The
closure of so many community resources over the past 3 years and cuts to
schools has had a negative effect not only on young people but the whole
community.
”
“
Lack of funding for necessary activities, reduction of youth funding. Increases
in crime/anti-social activities, Brexit, rise of anti-immigrant feelings,
economy worsening.
”
“
I’m concerned that we are sometimes unable to make an impact on young people
from the red tape of institutions and gaining access to funding. I’malso
concerned that education establishments do not have records of integrated
approaches with the community to benefit their pupils.
”
“
There are very few youth service initiatives for young people that are broadly
known in the borough. I think it all needs to be pulled together and also that there
is a variety and way for community groups to work in closer proximity. (possibly
having a central hub).
”
“
The way the VCS works together needs to improve including how information
gets out to families. Poor regards for the VCS needs to change. We need to find
ways of securing long-term resources to support the desired outcomes for the
community.
”
Lack of coherence

Part one
YBF Members Survey
24
Question 10. What big things keep you up at night?
On Space
“
The club will struggle to continue until it finds a way to obtain affordable
facilities.
”
“
Not enough time and space to do everything- Not having enough money toprovide
an excellent service- justtoomanyyoungpeopleoutthere with no support or not
knowing how to access services.
“
Brent has a lack of local youth Clubs -18 gangs in Brent – high number of
NEET- highnumbersofpermanent exclusions.
“
We need more youth spaces, a central hub.”
”
”
“
The rising levels of youth violence and apathy.”
“
Misrepresentation and under-representation of young people from challenging
backgrounds.
”
“
Growing poverty in the community and fear of gangs. The
closure of so many community resources over the past 3 years has
also had a very negative impact on not just young people but the whole
community. ThisIbelievewillbecompounded by the cuts about to impact
on schools.
”
Rising violence gangs and crime

Y0UNG BRENT FOUNDATION MEMBERS
WORKSHOP

Part two
Members Workshop Outcomes
26
Introduction
The results of this section of the report provided the outcomes of a workshop that was
attended by Young Brent Foundation members on April 6th 2017 at the offices of Bang
Edutainment in Brent.
The members represented a wide range of membership categories, including
Young Carers, Sport, Music, Crime Prevention, Route to Employment, Enrichment and
Dance.
Methodology
AParticipatoryRapidAppraisal(PRA)modelwasusedtoconducttheworkshopsession.
This is a recognised model that uses rapid momentum and teamwork to support the
transfer of local knowledge.
The structure that was used to transfer local front-line knowledge offered several benefits.
PRA allowed us to focus on what members considered to be the essential needs,
challenges and opportunities, rather than focusing on data that was taken from previous
online/telephone research.
PRA provided the following advantages:
Community/User Participation
Greater rapid transfer of local know-how provided an important context and ensured that
user values were included in research outcomes.
Teamwork
PRA captured informal reactions that arose from brainstorming etc. By including YBF
members as local people with a local perspective, we were able to achieve balance as a
group, so we could factor in things like area conditions, traditional norms and social
structures, socio-economic, cultural differences and age groups etc.
It provided sufficient information utilisation at speed. Some types of data are not
comparable on a like-for-like basis. PRA allowed for a quick buy in to gather exactly what
was needed without the need for long-winded alternative routes that can produce
outcomes which may not be comparable or valid.
Flexible / Reliable: PRA was valid and reliable as it used at least three different sources of
input and data to investigate the same topic.

Part two
Members Workshop Outcomes
27
Question 1. What local young people projects do you consider a successes and failures.
The outcome largely suggested that sports, Arts and activity-focused projects were seen
as being more successful. Many of those selected were entrepreneurial interventions
that members felt were generally better attended. This was a factor in why they were
ultimately considered to be a greater success. Projects that were considered failures
were largely the more traditional activities. The results reflected the members’
perceptions of success.
Success
The Roundwood Centre
Mama Youth Project
Bang Edutainment
Seth Stonebridge Boxing
Yes Limited
Mohogany Carnival Arts
TOKYNGTON
Tricycle Theatre
SYV
Teth
Brent Young Carers
Yellow Pavillion
St Michael's Youth Project
Addaction
Jason Roberts Foundation
Stonebridge Hub
Horn Stars
Unity Centre
Making The Leap
Brent Music Services
Failures
Scouts, Brownies
Traditional interventions in general
Connexions
Brent Youth Services
Stonebridge Adventure Playground
Navigation
Bridge Park Sports Complex

Part two
Members Workshop
28
Using PRA, the group identified key strengths and areas of
weakness, they felt were affecting young people across the Brent Community.
+
Strengths
Resilience
Wide spread multi-cultural respect
for diversity
Good schools
Kids with real talent
Readily accessible
First 12 pro football
Wembley Stadium
Lack of sign posting
Navigation tools
Poor joining up/access for the entire community
overall lack of places for people to go
Strong community offer, but lack of joined up ability
to access them
Poor logistics
_ Weakness
Lack of spaces – to deliver
&foryoungpeopletobesafeandpositive
No central hub for young people to access

Part two
Members Workshop
29
Members were asked if they were to receive extra funding (than expected)
what it would be spent on?
Improve quality
“
We would create more jobs to increase the size and
resilience so that they could create more jobs for young people.
“
We
would create better intervention longer delivery times inject some
manpower into our Services no waiting for 16 weeks plus. End to end
delivery is hugely important 10 weeks is too short we are just making a
breakthrough when our delivery ends with young people this is not
enough time to make lasting benefits.
”
”
More staff more opening hours
“
Take on a fundraising person as raising funds is a
number one priority to survive and to fund
more staff to run the service and expand
opening times.
”
“
Empower residents to create a stronger community.”
SPACE
“
Create a carers drop-in centre south to north of the borough open
on Saturdays provide laptops for home-working and more advice
work create chill out zones for young carers who often miss out on vital
services because they are unable to leave the people they care for.
“
Take umbrage Park and open it 365 days expand its opening. Using an
orchestra structure to engage in discipline young people in informal
engagement by choice.
”
”

Part two
Members Workshop
30
YBF members told us about why they live and work in Brent.
“
Born in Kilburn for three years, lived in north-west and came to Brent aged 10. I’ve seen the
changes in Brent, and see real value, mutual respect and diversity, and a true love between
cultures. I believe Brent has a strong mutual respect agenda on the street, that underpins the
whole community. I believe Brent has a lot of talented youth, that use sport as their route, as they
are inspired by Wembley Stadium. I want to see a place that is safe of gangs, were disadvantaged
youths achieve their full potential and where success is the norm, and where difference is
valued.
”
“ Ilivehereforyoungpeopletoimproveschoolsandemployment. ”
“ Ibecameinvolvedinyouthworkfromalotofsportinmybackground.Frommyownfamilyand
personal experience in Willesden, I became concerned and saw there was gaps in accessing
affordable sports and leisure activities. I’ve been in working in the sector in sport for 20 years and
believe that sport is a key route to young engagement and development.
”

BRENT
Voluntary Sector Survey

Part three
Voluntary Sector Survey
32
Introduction
This section of the Report details the results of a survey that was carried out over an eightweek
period, from May to June 2017.
The results shown are from 89 VSOs across the Borough of Brent who deliver services and
support to young people. This group was drawn from a larger directory of 300 VSOs that
work across Brent with the support of Brent Council.
YBF members that had been listed in the Brent Directory were eliminated from any
participation in the VSO targeted survey.
The purpose of researching a different group, with similar aims and work profiles as the
YBF members in the same geographical location and timescale, was to enable us to
compare and contrast the findings, including their shared needs, challenges and
opportunities, where possible.
Method
The survey was carried out via a telephone and online survey.
Many of the respondents to the VSO survey represented the traditional youth service
community that was working with young people in Brent. This group included Scouts,
Brownies and other VSOs that deliver sport, education, family support and youth-centred
activities.

Part three
Voluntary Sector Survey
33
Question 1. What kind of support does your organisation most often need?
40% of VSOs said their greatest needs were consultation and advice
20% of VSOs needed support with contracts and tendering, suggesting they were the most
likely to work towards contract readiness
Many of the standard management functions were not selected overall. This may have been
due to the nature of their make up, as some VSOs were managed by larger parent
organisations

Part three
Voluntary Sector Survey
34
Question 2. Please state your organisations annual turnover?
Half (50%) of the VSOs surveyed had turnovers of less than £10,000 a year
17% turned over £100,000 or less a year
Approx. one third (33%) had turnovers of £250,000 a year
This suggests they had relatively modest turnovers, with no single VSO turning over more
than £250,000 a year

Part three
Voluntary Sector Survey
35
Question 3. What percentage of your income comes from contracts?
Well over half (66%) of the organisations surveyed had no income from
contracts.
Approx. one third (33%) had some contract income.
Key Recommendation: These findings suggest there is a substantive need for
investment and resources to help VSOs increase their overall capacity so that they
can increase their contract income by becoming contract ready.

Part three
Voluntary Sector Survey
36
Question 4. Which best describes your organisations needs for young people services?
29% had needs which had grown compared to 29% who had needs that were unchanged.
28% who selected "other" in the free text data option had specified that it was difficult or
"hard to work out" as "some areas like the after-school club have shrunk, but weekends
and holidays have grown."
14% – the smallest proportion – said their service users had shrinking needs.
Conclusion:
This suggested that significantly more needs were growing than were actually being met.

Part three
Voluntary Sector Survey
37
Question 5. Which of the following best describes your organisations service status.
57% were maintaining services
29% were reducing services
14% considered their organisation's services to be at risk of closure
None of them were expanding their services
Conclusion:
This suggests there is a downward trend and decline in services, with 43% of VSOs either
reducing their services or considering them to be at risk of closure.

Part three
Voluntary Sector Survey
38
Question 6.
The following question was asked: If you think about the core goals – which your
organisation was set up to address – compared to the actual activities that you currently do
to purely generate income from activity that is outside your core objectives, to what extent
do you feel more or less able to reconcile your funder’s needs with those of your
organisation's core objectives?
The aim of this question was to examine the extent of any Mission Drift within a VSO. The
extent to which the funding outputs of VSOs are compatible with their core is set out in
their Charitable Objectives and/or organisation’s Terms of Reference.
The results clearly showed that half (50%) felt they could not reconcile their funding
activities and outputs with those of their organisation's main purpose.
Key Recommendation.
Further investigation is recommended in order to identify the causes of this shortfall
and how best to address it. This could examine gaps and overlaps, as well as the
extent to which funding streams currently fit with existing needs. A prime focus of
this work could be to address the key factors for both organisations and funders that
need to change to improve the compatibility of any negative features of mission drift.

Part three
Voluntary Sector Survey
39
Question 7. Please select any of the following options you were aware of before today?

Part three
Voluntary Sector Survey
40
Question 8. When you think about community assets and young people and their needs,
what or who, do you consider to be Brent's greatest community asset?
25% of VSOs were unable to name a community asset
25% of VSOs considered Brent's young people – both collectively and individually – as being
Brent's greatest asset
Some added in the free text data sections that Brent's young people were
exceptional, e.g. "mega talented and just in need of support"
50% of VSOs considered a wide range of open outdoor spaces, including parks and playgrounds
as being Brent's greatest community assets. Some mentioned this in relation to the loss of
playgrounds

Part three
Voluntary Sector Survey
41
Question 9. What do you feel are the key barriers facing young people in Brent
that are preventing them from reaching their full potential?
Space "Not enough places for young people to meet."
"Good quality face-to-face provision that offers them places to go
and socialise with peers, and become involved in positive things to
do.”
Funding "Lack of funding, spending too much time fundraising for
small amounts that are incredibly admin heavy, parents struggling to
cope; meanwhile, young people are getting into trouble through lack
of provision."
"Red tape fundraising that drains us at one end and takes us down
empty alleys."
Lack of community signposting & coherence "Poor signposting."
"Not joined up."
"Postcode barriers! The voluntary sector, with the involvement of
schools, identify the disaffected and provide a positive multicultural
approach using the parks. Expose them to different outside
experiences, through museums and music, and then do something
with those experiences."
"Lack of signposting."
Rising violence and gangs
"Gang crime."
"Youth Clubs located in safe places."
"Gangs affect us all and seem to be on the increase, more action is
needed by all.”

BRENT
Young People Research
Brent Council

Part four
Young People Focus Group
43
Introduction
The results of this section provide detail about the outcomes of a focus group that was conducted
by Brent Council on 29th March 2017 at Rubio in London.
The purpose of this focus group was to inform and provide a user voice on the future delivery
model of local authority youth provision in Brent, as well as provide input into this.
The notes from this focus group session are shown below. This represented young people’s voices
verbatim. They have been categorised under key headings for ease of reference.
Space
“
Create more public spaces for teenagers to hangout.
I’d love to have football pitches and Brent Council organises football tournaments to bring
people together.
It would be nice to have a space where young people could go chill and relax.
Iwouldliketoseeaplacewe can go instead of roaming around and getting into
trouble.
Iwouldliketoseemore public spaces being upgraded e.g. basketball courts,
football fields etc.
Somewhere people can do art together.
To be honest, Iamhappywithwhatwehavealready,but I’ll love to see more open parks
Aspacewhereteenscanbeteens.
Brent: need more jobs, need more green spaces, need more tourist sites.
Aspacewherewe don’t have to do anything – just chill. Whereteenscanhangout.
More areas for people to hang out and communicate together other than online/at home.
We need more playgrounds like football pitches and basketball courts.
Teenage space –whereyoucanbeloudwithoutbeingtoldoff.
”

Part four
Young People Focus Group
44
Young people focus group continued.
Views on activities
“
IthinkthatBrentlacksinafter school community activities, Isaythis,asthemajority
of activities are narrow or unheard.
Iwouldenjoymoresocial clubs and chess, computer science as a way to broaden the
types of clubs.
A free football pitch that we can use during the day.
Pool tables, arcade games, tuck shop, no fees, no mandatory activities,
art wall, drama, studio, dance, activities options.
”

YOUNG BRENT FOUNDATION
Useful Information

46
Young Brent Foundation Members Directory
YBF members are largely Voluntary Sector Organisations who deliver a wide range of young
people services, to one or more locations in the Brent community.
Arts Performing
Dance
Out of School
Childcare
Disability
Overseas Support
Clubs Groups
Faith Based/Religion
Educators /Schools
Carers
Family Support/parenting
Sports (all)
Crime/Prevention
Health/Mental & Wellbeing
Tuition
Community Support
Mentoring
Training Skills
Drama
Music
Volunteering

47
Brent Crime Hotspots
Gangs
Drugs
Alcohol
Sex Crime
Gang Territories
Source: Safer Brent Partnership Report 2017
Daniel Birmingham Head of Gangs Metropolitan Police Unit