Community sports organisation Youth Ngage is the national winner of StreetGames’ Mental Health and Wellbeing Award.
Youth Ngage was founded to deliver positive engagements for young people in the local community. The organisation works primarily with BAME youths from the North Kent area, focusing on African and Caribbean young people aged 11 – 25 and their families. They use sport as an entry strategy to engage participants positively, providing healthy activities, mental wellbeing support, career and skills development, and community engagement events for young people and family members.
The organisation’s is to ‘bridge the gap between young people and those in Higher authority’ by discouraging anti-social behaviour, developing their potential and raising youth champions. They use a holistic approach to ensure families in need are adequately supported.
Last year, Youth Ngage launched their Wellbeing Hub for families in need due to requests from young people to support their wider families. The hub provides weekly 1-2-1 support and group interactive sessions for participants experiencing hardship, and helps to tackle loneliness, low self-confidence, unemployment, mental health problems, disengagement, and domestic abuse amongst BAME families in North Kent. They also donate essential items every month to assist families that are struggling financially.
Ayodele Idowu Bello from Youth Ngage said:
“Through volunteering and collaborative work, our Wellbeing Hub is thriving and making a real impact on the local community. We engage the adults with regular Keep Fit sessions, organise mental health and healthy living sessions with professionals, provide free blood pressure checks for our community, and assist over 100 families to apply for and receive household vouchers for shopping. The youths attend dance sessions on Mondays and outdoor sporting activities on Fridays.”
Mark Lawrie, Chief Executive of StreetGames, said:
“The StreetGames Awards recognise outstanding contributions to mental health and well-being, honouring individuals and organisations that have demonstrated exceptional dedication to supporting and empowering their communities across the UK. The work Youth Ngage are doing is making a huge impact on the wellbeing of a whole community.
“One of the great strengths of community organisations like Youth Ngage is that they are truly rooted in their neighbourhood and have the trust and support of local people. That meant that when the young people they coach came to them with concerns about their wider family’s needs they had the trust and credibility to step in and make a real difference.
The support Youth Ngage are providing to the local community, from counselling and mental health support to providing food and essentials, is second to none.”
