Brent
Young Roots has worked in Brent since 2007. We welcome young refugees aged 11-25 from across Brent and neighbouring boroughs.
“The way I can talk English, I can get help when something is difficult. They don't judge me, I am now not bored and can have somewhere to go to have fun.”
- Tahiil, aged 20, from Somalia
Our purpose
Our Brent offices are based in the College of North West London, Willesden Campus. We work closely with very many partners in the area and established the North-West London Refugee Network in 2017, to facilitate sharing of best practice, collaboration, coordination of efforts, and identification of gaps in services. Most young people access our services and activities through word of mouth, and any young refugee in the area can self-refer.
We also receive regular referrals from social care and the NHS, the Prevent Community Hub, the North West London Refugee Network and our many partners.
Young refugees in Brent
Young Roots works with around 300-350 young refugees each year in Brent, of whom 25% are female and 75% male. The largest groups of young people are from Afghanistan, Eritrea, Iran and Sudan. Many young people are unaccompanied, here in the UK alone, although some are here with their families.
Our activities
Our Brent provision includes:
our weekly Advice & Support Hub, integrating our popular youth and sporting activities with our expert one-to-one casework support and access to specialist legal advice and counselling through funded partnerships
our intensive casework service, providing advocacy and support to resolve complex issues relating to immigration, age-assessments, housing, welfare, physical and mental health, and education
our peer mentoring English-language programme at the College of North West London (Wembley campus)
our online English-language mentoring programme, offering conversational English either one-to-one or in small groups
our Youth Welfare Project in Wembley supporting young male refugees aged 18-25 in initial accommodation
trips, during the school holidays, open to all young refugees we work with
