PRESS RELEASE: YOUTH GROUP AWARDED £25,000 TO PROVIDE SUPPORT FOR YOUNG ASYLUM SEEKERS & REFUGEES
STAND4 members with their The Key Award. Photograph by Success4All
Success4All is delighted to announce we have received a £25,000 grant from Newcastle City Council, in partnership with The National Lottery Community Fund, to provide youth-led support services to young refugees and asylum seekers in the Inner West of Newcastle upon Tyne.
The project is due to last 12 months and will be led by STAND4, Success4All’s youth activism group.
The diverse group of young people aged 13 to 18 years, many with lived experience of being new arrivals, will host and deliver a series of workshops, events & resources that will allow young refugees and asylum seekers to gain the tools they need to rebuild their lives.
To deliver a service that meets the needs of young people, STAND4 will conduct a series of consultations with young people from across the city who are seeking sanctuary.
Young refugees and asylum seekers often face one of the hardest and most traumatic experiences anyone can experience. To ensure that STAND4 are best equipped to support their peers as well as to look after their own wellbeing, the group will complete a Mental Health First Aid training course.
Busola Afolabi, Director of Success4All, said: “Thanks to Newcastle City Council and The National Lottery Community Fund, this grant means that we can provide a service led and designed by young people to support other young refugees and asylum seekers in the North East of England.
“This project is about equipping & empowering young people with the knowledge and confidence they need to make informed decisions about their future.
“I am proud our youth group has championed and steered this project from the get-go and I have no doubt this project will make a big difference to the young people’s lives.”
A spokesperson for STAND4, said: “The idea for the project came as we were discussing some of our own earlier experiences of life in Newcastle. Many of us didn’t speak the language, we didn’t know what GCSEs were, and we didn’t even know how to go about making a doctor’s appointment.
“We want this project to help young people who are new to the country understand how to go about their day-to-day lives as best as possible. We want young people to know what their rights are and ultimately, we want everyone who comes here to feel welcome and supported.”
Success4All welcomes any young person who is keen to take part in the project. To get involved & to find out more, please email info@s4a.org.uk