Six months at Young Roots, and our 2024-27 Strategy
Paola Uccellari, Chief Executive of Young Roots
What a joy and a privilege it has been to lead Young Roots for the last six months. Thank you so much for your support throughout.
I have spent much of my first six months in post trying to learn as much as I can about the needs and hopes of the young people with whom we work, how I can support the Young Roots team to do their brilliant work and to learn all about Young Roots as an organisation - what is so special about what we do, who and what are central to our impact and what risks we face.
I have visited each of the nine youth groups we run each week, spending time with young people making Christmas wreaths, cooking Iftar, attending a celebration for those graduating from our volunteering programme (there were sparklers!), joining henna parties, dodging flying cricket balls and playing a LOT of table tennis (I’m secretly very proud that I’m not bad!). It has been beautiful to see the relationships young people have with each other and with our staff team, to see young people have space which they can make their own and where they can enjoy being young and to see young people have the chance to pursue their plans for the future and gain new skills and confidence. I have sat next to Caseworkers doing everything they can to find housing for the huge number of young people at risk of homelessness, to ensure children are treated as such and not placed with strangers in inappropriate accommodation and to support young people to pursue their goals, whether that’s to progress their asylum application, enter college or find a job.
I have seen up close that we couldn’t do our transformational work without the Young Roots community. I have been absolutely blown away by the expertise, determination and kindness of our staff team and volunteers. They are changing lives everyday. I have seen the importance of our expert partners to meeting the many complex needs of the young people with whom we work, offering therapy, legal advice and opportunities. I have been supported and held to account by impressive group of dedicated trustees. And I have been lifted up by our supports – all of you, and the trusts, foundations and corporate partners who fund our work.
And I have lived and breathed the risks and challenges facing Young Roots and all organisations who are working with asylum seekers and refugees. The cruel asylum regime which harms young people and prevents them from settling positively in the UK. The lack of public services available to meet young people’s needs – whether that’s legal advice, housing or mental health services. The impact that the traumatising regime, hostile rhetoric and overwhelming demand has on our staff team’s wellbeing. And the constant struggle to ensure we have the financial resources to do what needs to be done.
This intense learning about what young people need and want, what makes our work so special, who makes it happen and the challenges we face has been so important as we’ve worked together to develop our strategic plan for 2024 to 2027. In delivering this plan we will further develop our work which supports young people to pursue their goals, whether that’s more sports or employment. We will develop our services to meet young people’s needs for legal representation, when in destitution and for mental health support. And in light of this increasingly harsh policy environment, you will see us significantly increase our work with young people to call for a more compassionate system. We will do even more to ensure our values are at the hear of everything we do, focusing on staff wellbeing, diversity, equity and inclusion and making sure that young people’s voices drive everything we do.
Our key strategic objectives:
To promote youth leadership in the design and delivery of our Youthwork.
To build on the strengths and impact of our Casework service.
To improve our ability to campaign with young people, at a hyper local and national level.
To make our values central to everything we do by increasing the extent to which people. with lived experience participate across the breadth of our functions.
To support the growth and development of staff, young people and volunteers.