Knights and our community hub

Research and common sense say organisations serving children and families should be located close together whenever possible to ‘wrap themselves around’ the young person and their needs rather than see them being passed from pillar to post to get the support they need.

We were keen to provide for the different needs of our young people, so we’ve opened our doors to invite other like-minded organisations to join us, using our services throughout the week - not just in the evenings.

Many organisations share our space with us – here’s more on just three of them.

The Da’aro Youth Project

The Da’aro Youth Project is a youth club for refugee young people aged between 14 -21 from Eritrea, Somalia and Ethiopia who meet on a Tuesday evening.

Our Project was established in 2018 by members of the Eritrean community in London in response to the deaths of several teenage Eritreans by suicide. Unaccompanied minors and young adults from the Horn of Africa arrive in the UK after traumatic journeys through the Sahara Desert, Libya, the Mediterranean Sea and after crossing borders in Europe, such as in Calais. Once here, they often struggle to adapt to new lives separated from their families and finding a way through the complex asylum system can be stressful and traumatic.

In August 2018, we held our first youth club session, ‘Injera Club,’ named after the tangy sourdough bread that makes up the base of any Eritrean or Ethiopian meal. We then began running Injera Club out of Knights Youth Centre in October 2018. The space was perfect for our needs as there was plenty of space, ready-to-use activities like pool, table tennis, table football. a sports hall, and – importantly – a kitchen to prepare injera and other food for serving to attendees.

Knights kindly supported us with an offer of free rent for the first three months while we got onto our feet, found funding and volunteers. At first, we struggled to get young people to attend – and had no volunteers – but slowly we built interest. Without that initial support from Knights we would not have had the opportunity to prove our project was viable and valuable to funders.

Ecclesia Ministries

Ecclesia Ministries is a local independently run Church, which currently hires the Knights Youth Centre to meet every Sunday for Christian fellowship and worship.

The Church first met with the Directors of the Knights Youth Centre in January 2013, when the Directors kindly agreed to provide a space for Church activities. At the time the Church was in a difficult situation because it did not have a venue. The team at Knights enthusiastically met the need and were very welcoming towards having a church group use the youth centre.

The Directors have been supportive and willing to provide opportunities for activities aimed at engaging young people to take place at the centre. As a result, the Church currently runs a Children's Sunday School Department, which has a biblically-based curriculum and caters for children aged between three to seventeen years.

There are frequent ongoing discussions between the Directors of the Youth Centre and the Church regarding engaging youth during the week - the aim would be to develop an environment for young people to discuss issues within a relaxed setting. The Directors are also accommodating towards other projects which are run by the Church and have agreed to provide opportunities for young people to participate in drumming lessons.

In addition, Knights opened its doors to the Church to provide other services to the local community by helping with healthcare, hygiene, legal matters and signposting towards other community services. Overall, Knights continues to remain an important part of the community with respect to the various activities and ethos it provides.’

IntoUniversity Brixton

IntoUniversity Brixton is one of thirty centres across the UK and has been operating for over nine years in the Brixton and Streatham Hill area. We see thousands of young people aged 7–18 every year, and work with nine partner primary and secondary schools.

Four years on from our move to Knights, IntoUniversity Brixton has established excellent partnerships and opportunities for the young people in the local area, while maintaining our relationships with long-term users and families. As an educational charity aiming to raise aspiration among young people from less advantaged backgrounds, we embed our staff and resources in communities where we can achieve the highest impact.

Reflecting more holistically on our operations in recent years, Knight’s Youth Centre has been a delightful upgrade on our previous site. With help from Knights, the sports hall has been transformed for daytime use as a working classroom. The space, light, and utilities make it a conducive learning environment for our users. Also, the ‘sharing’ of users has been a fantastic advantage for our two organisations.

On a more personal level, getting to know the different organisations that access the centre on any given week has been enjoyable and eye opening, as it demonstrates just how much the local residents can access high quality guidance and support, from one single ‘hub’. The work that IntoUniversity Brixton carry out is significantly improved and supplemented by the other opportunities provided by the Knight’s Youth Centre clubs, making it a very special and important place for the staff and families.