About Us:

What we do:

As a youth-led charity, we support young people with their learning and expose them to a range of potential areas of interest. We provide them with opportunities to achieve their ambitions and aspirations. The young people devise numerous creative educational projects covering a range of contemporary societal issues. These projects enable young people to learn and develop transferable skills in many different areas. Their work may involve script and film development, a stage production, song writing or organising and hosting an annual conference whereby we showcase all the brilliant work created throughout the year. Many of them are invited to speak at high profile events both nationally and internationally, to consult policy-makers or deliver training to frontline professionals, including teachers, police, lawyers and medical professionals.

Central to our decision-making are 10 Junior Trustees who lead youth steering groups and report back to the board of trustees. They are crucial as they keep us on track, share constructive feedback and inform all aspects of our service.

Our Outreach Workers deliver peer-education workshops in schools across the nation, using our young activists’ media resources. This allows students to develop a profound connection with the resource as they internalise and reflect on their own lives, but it also acts as a means of encouragement to get involved in youth activism. Our workshops initiate discussions around a range difficult issues such as female genital mutilation {FGM}, honour-based abuse {HBA} and forced marriage, sexual harassment and assault, coercive control, toxic masculinity, racism and different forms of extremism.

Written by Mariama Sanneh, Junior Trustee

 

Our mission:

Investing in the skills, passions and talents of young people aged 12 to 24, to nurture future leaders who promote our vision of a society based on gender and racial equality and cross cultural cohesion.

Our broader strategic aims are developed with and for our young people, to create the changes they wish to see in their communities and society as a whole, in accordance with our vision and mission statement. Our approach to achieving this ambitious vision is multifold, focussing on tackling the ongoing inequalities associated with race and gender, including access, participation, attainment, discrimination and all forms of violence against women and girls (VAWG).

By providing young people with the skills, opportunities and platforms to lead and to deliver the changes they want to see in terms of gender and racial equality, we also nurture their aspirations, enabling them to achieve their full potential and to change, define and determine their own lives and those of future generations.

Our Values:

Empowerment – providing the skills, platforms and opportunities so young people can advocate for themselves and create the changes they want to see in the world
Integrity – staying true to the Integrate model of working devised by its service users
Representation – being meaningfully youth led and ensuring Integrate is representative of those we serve
Creativity – finding innovative, creative approaches to youth led change
Inclusivity – making sure everyone is welcome and has a voice

Who’s involved?

Trustees:

  1. Janet Fyle MBE, (she/her) – Chair – MBE, Nurse, Midwife, Public Health Specialist, Policy Advisor at the Royal College of Midwives. Campaigner & activist for ending violence against women & girls. Advocate for improving Women’s mental health & wellbeing.
  2. Ursule Diankela, (she/her) – Qualified accountant and UK/US Tax Manager.
  3. Joey Paran, (she/her) – Qualified Nurse, former Safeguarding Project Manager for NHS England and Improvement.
  4. Hana Farhat, (she/her) – Human Rights advocate currently working on supporting non-profits securing pro bono legal assistance.
  5. Faiza Abdulkadir, (she/her) – Arts and community fundraiser, Birkbeck Psychosocial Studies PhD student. Advocate for anti-oppression and anti-racism ways of working in charities and the fundraising sector. 

Junior Trustees:

  1. Shaheim
  2. Mariama
  3. Neisha
  4. Sinairie
  5. Val
  6. Kardinell
  7. Ilyas
  8. Lara
  9. Ritaj
  10. Zainab
  11. Daechanel

Youth Board:

17 youth board members of which 15 are girls and 14 racialised.

Staff:

  • Lisa Zimmermann (she/her) – CEO – Co-founder, former teacher with more than 20 years’ experience of working with Muslim and racialised young people on creative and educational projects and issues relating to social change.
  • Mohamed Nour-Elmi (he/him) – Finance Manager – student of Robotics and Accountancy, former Integrate UK service user.
  • Tina Rahman (she/her) – PA – former foreign language correspondent, administrator and ceramicist with years of experience in working with the refugee community and with young people from racialised, queer and neurodivergent backgrounds.
  • Corrie Macleod (she/her) – Project Lead – with 4 years of communications, project coordination, and immigration and education policy research experience collaborating with and for non-profits organisations and academic institutions.
  • Aishath Zahwa Ihsan (Zaa) (she/her) – Project Lead – Bristol University graduate with a masters degree in International Security.
  • Priya Kaur (she/her) – Project Worker – former service user with 2 years of experience in acting, film development and an academic background within socio-political understandings of law. 
  • Muktar Hassan (he/him) – Project Worker – Law graduate with a background in activism and outreach work, former Integrate UK service user.
  • Najma Kediye (she/her) – Community member, cleaning services.

We also have a number of young people and volunteers assisting with all aspects of our charity work.