Grant awarded: £30,000 a year for 3 years: 2022-2025 - unrestricted; Cost of Living uplift grant in Year 2 £2,370
Bright Centres is a charity for young people and their families that offers services across three streams: education, professional development and wellbeing, and advocacy. They have been delivering high quality tutoring and mentoring to 60-70 young people per week (primary and secondary school age), including from the Somali community in Lambeth. Bright is run by its Founder and CEO, and the work is delivered by a team of talented young professionals, students, and volunteers (many are former service users including current medical students).
Bright experienced significant challenges in 2023 due to a leaking roof in its main home, but its service users and community have benefited from an excellent relationship developed by Bright with the Lilian Baylis School Technology School, using its Sixth Form Centre for its extra-curricular work. Staff, volunteers, parents and carers share stories of the difference Bright’s work has made to young people, their pathways to higher education and employment, to its community and the importance of Bright’s early intervention work as its staff respond to concerns raised by parents and carers.
‘We believe that everyone can reach their best, and can unlock a Brighter future… Our ethos of working towards a brighter future is apparent across all our projects and commitments to our community, and we aim to create cohesion and harmony across the range of areas we work in' - Hamdi Aden, Centre Manager