Impact Report of the Hebe Foundation, April 2021
In 2020 we worked with 375 young people, helping them to recognise and nurture their talents,
develop their skills, and build a hopeful, proactive attitude to their future. These young people are
becoming the leaders who will transform their world.
SL joined The Hebe Foundation through our flagship project; The Junior Apprentice. At just 13, she
attended our Peckham branch with a lot of charisma and energy. Growing up in the heart of
Peckham, SL and her friends had already been exposed to hardship, social injustice, and gang
violence, and because of that had adopted a very ‘hard skin’. Often getting into altercations,
heated debates and even fights with the other participants, SL had a fire that was burning to be
channelled into something productive and constructive.
Through the years of attending Junior Apprentice, and other Hebe projects, SL learnt the skills
needed to become a mature young lady. Not only was she able to lead a team, but she was now
able to de-escalate situations, be a problem solver, and stay focused on her aspirations and
dreams, all whilst keeping that fire alive. After her hard work and years of perseverance, SL was
chosen out of over 200 candidates to be the Junior Apprentice Overall Winner 2019. Since then,
she now provides promotional and advertising materials for The Hebe Foundation under her own
design company. SL has come leaps and bounds and we are extremely proud of her progress.
This year we have reflected on young people’s journey with the Hebe Foundation. Young people go through a 3–5-year journey with us as they move through different elements of our programme of support. Each young person works closely with us as they identify the most appropriate next step for them at each stage. Typically, a young person might start by attending our five-week course to begin the process of identifying their strengths and talents and finding their voice. They might then attend our workshops, and work with one of our mentors as their belief in their potential grows and they increasingly focus on proactively planning their path in life. Often the next step is taking part in our more high profile events, such as London’s Next Top Role Model or the Junior Apprentice. These are held over several day-long sessions, and young people work in teams to create original solutions to questions of identity and business challenges. Momentum built during these events is maintained
through mentoring and personal guidance and advice, as young people continue moving towards
fulfilling their potential and embracing their unique strengths and gifts.
We are confident this work is reaching the young people who need it most. Postcode analysis shows that 47% of participants came from neighbourhoods ranked amongst the 30% most deprived in the Index of Multiple Deprivation. This rises to 58% if the Index used relates solely to income deprivation affecting children and rises again to 68% if the Index used relates to living environment.
We continue to enable young people to share their stories. In 2020 Amie was interviewed on BBC
Radio London about Hebe’s work and young people’s experience of lockdown. Amie spoke at a
private listening exercise with the Archbishop of Canterbury and other leaders on the Black Lives
Matter developments, and helped young people to speak at consultations with the Met Police.
We have steadily developed our co-production with young people, many of whom have moved into
project steering, peer youth work and various volunteering roles within the charity, including a
handful of outstanding young people who now sit within our leadership team. We are currently
recruiting for a Youth Trustee, a young person who will sit on our Board and share their perspective
with the Trustees on issues as they arise. This role will not have voting rights.
Our flagship project, the Junior Apprentice, was externally evaluated. For many young people
participation in the Junior Apprentice is the culmination of years of personal development work. For context, as you may remember, the Junior Apprentice is a three-week business and leadership
project during the school summer holidays. Young people work in teams to design creative
responses to business challenges and present to a Dragons Den style Boardroom. Year round,
Networking Dinners happen every two months, giving young people the opportunity to meet
professionals, and discuss their own journey to their career goals. This year the young people were able to gain an insight into industries such as finance, asset management, IT consultancy, creative arts, and many more. These have been online since March 2020. We also have an Employment Officer providing year-round 1:1 support for disadvantaged young people. Our Employment Officer has weekly support and coaching sessions on CV writing, apprenticeships, and work placements.
Young people told us about their goals, ’I want to take part so that I can discover my talent and get me prepared for what I want to be when I’m older.’
‘Making friends and doing challenges that at first glance seem impossible.’
Young people’s feedback illustrated three particular themes:
Increased positive expectations for future life
• 75% of young people were “happy with what may happen to you later in your life”
• 79% had “started thinking more about my future because of JAP”
• 71% thought it was very true that if they work hard they can achieve their goals
• 75% of young people said that the project had “been a positive turning point in my life”
Improved relationships with groups relevant to them
• 93% “learned that it is not necessary to like people in order to work with them”
• 97% “had an opportunity to be in charge of a group of peers”
• 75% had “good conversations with my parents/guardians because of this activity”
• 86% made “friends with someone of the opposite gender” while 79% “learned that I had a
lot in common with people from different backgrounds”.
• 71% of young people said they “got to know people in the community”, and 68% said they
“came to feel more supported by the community”.
The last two bullets were both noticeably lower than in 2019, which we believe was a result of the
blended online and in person delivery. We hope to be able to deliver in person this year.
Ability to express and use their personal attributes and talents
• 96% “learned about organising time and not putting things off (up from 87% in 2019)
• 93% “learned about setting priorities” (up from 82% in 2019)
• 93% “learned about developing plans for solving a problem” (up from 85% in 2019).
Public Health England found BAME groups had between 10% and 50% higher risk of death than
white people. The emotional impact on BAME young people is huge. Our events help young people
to process current events. In addition young people are being disproportionately impacted by
economic turmoil. Lockdown is vastly reducing the number of entry level and work experience
opportunities in many sectors.
In July 2020 we surveyed 89 young people about the impact of COVID. Around 60% mentioned
negative impacts such as boredom, not seeing family and friends, feeling worried or upset or
missing out on education. Around 20% mentioned positive effects, notably spending time
with family or gaining new perspectives.
Many young people are in families that are now further struggling from reduced/lost income,
additional pressures within the household and the closure of other services. Many
beneficiaries/families lack the tech equipment, space/privacy and resources to engage in
mainstream remote learning and development, impacting their ability to access support and
education. Young people need support for positive growth during a difficult time.
During the lockdowns we moved many events online. Two projects streamed finales and gathered
public votes. We maintained engagement with light touch events such as cooking workshops and
discussion groups. We created a blended version of Junior Apprentice, in which young people could
participate face-to-face. During enormous disruption at home and at school this provided respite for
them and their families. We also facilitated remote participation, and 20% of young people chose to
participate online and were not left out.
Through online delivery we have been able to support young people beyond our usual geographical
scope. However, these sessions can have less immediacy and impact and rely on the technology on
both sides. Where previously events had day-long sessions, we now aim to make no session more
than three hours long, because we have found young people cannot maintain engagement online all
day. We recently held an outdoors treasure hunt for those who needed to get out of the home.
While Hebe has had a successful 2020 year, many of the usual funding programmes we might have
accessed were paused or re-directed, so we have not secured what we would consider a sustainable
mid-term future. The external funding environment is very focused on Covid-19 response work
around food and essential services support, not necessarily investing in young people.
Last year the mostly Black young people we work with were faced with far more than Covid, being
deeply impacted by the killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, and the subsequent response of Black Lives Matter. Young people spoke to us of their sense of anger and mistrust, of disappointment that society does not understand them, and of their drive to create real change that will last. We worked with young people through online events and workshops and in our one-to-one guidance sessions to help young people process their response and deal with the grief that they felt.
In response to the events of 2020, and the drive of young people to create lasting change, we have
designed a new project which will create a team of 10 Black young people to deliver diversity and
inclusion consultancy to employers. This project was designed as a vehicle for their passion to create change through educating wider society. The voice of young people will make a powerful contribution in the movement towards equality.
Our work is positive and constructive and provides a counter narrative to the stereotypes and
misconceptions of young people, particularly Black and BAME young people. Throughout Black
History Month we share stories of Black people who have achieved amazing things in societies that are not supportive of their gifts and talents, inspiring young people to aim high. We take these stories to young people where they are, online. As Maya Angelou said, “the more you know of your history, the more liberated you are”.
We are very proud of the young people we work with and we have complete faith in their potential.
As our Founder and Chief Executive said in our Black Lives Matter statement,
“Young people, may you never walk in darkness, but always be the light in every situation. May
your voice never be silent, but may it be bold and speak up for all that is good and all that is true.
May your breath never be taken away from you, but instead it will breathe love into all who hate”
Our Consultancy is just one of the exciting new developments planned over. We have designed
several new elements to our programme in response to what young people have told us they need:
• The Dream Academy will support young people further along in their ‘Hebe’ journey to take
their final steps towards adulthood and their chosen career path.
• The Finishing School will provide opportunities for young people to polish their personal
brand and learn common sense practicalities for adulthood.
• Bridge the Gap will bring together young people and community elders to share stories
between the generations and create art to preserve the elders’ wisdom.
• Adult edition of the Junior Apprentice – we plan to create a paid-for version of the event for
corporate partners, developing relationships.
• We have created a very ambitious 7-year strategy that includes us expanding in capacity and
geographically nationally and internationally. We look forward to implementing the strategy
which will work towards helping support more young people in a deeper way.