Providing Opportunities to Success for Young Black Men

Njoya Foundation announces the Opportunities to Success event in London. On Saturday 11th October 2008 young African/African-Caribbean Men aged 15 to 19 will be able to meet and speak to successful Black Professional Men.

The event, running from 11.30am to 4 pm at Waterloo Action Centre, London will see representatives from the Creative, Media, Finance, IT, Legal, Medical and Science sectors speak to the participants and provide essential advice on the realities of employment and training through a series of inspirational presentations and Q & A sessions.

In a shift away from traditional careers fairs, the event will see each guest speaker working with a group of 15 young people and a facilitator. The speakers will give an introduction about themselves and their specialist area, and then deliver an interactive presentation.

Dipo Ajani, Chair of the Njoya Foundation said, “we found that 90%+ of the young people we interviewed knew which career they want to follow. However they felt there was a strong need for access to a role model or a mentor to provide advice and support. This event will provide an innovative, exciting and positive environment for young Black Men to meet and talk to leading Black Professionals on a one to one basis.”

This event has been shaped using research from interviews with young people in the London area. Details of the research and registration for the event can be found at www.opportunitiestosuccess.org.uk.

A unique presentation of the Africa Diaspora

On Thursday 16 October 2008 The Njoya Foundation, in partnership with Wimbledon Film Club, present director Robert ‘Beyonder’ Asare’s feature film Diaspora Diaries. Showing at the Polka Theatre, 240 The Broadway, Wimbledon, SW19 1SB

Diaspora Diaries is a documentary that pulls no punches, a refreshing honesty from its contributors who tell their stories, their way, and importantly using their own voice.

What makes Diaspora Diaries stand above other documentaries about the African Diaspora is that it goes beyond the ‘popularised’ voices from the West African coast and brings in the voices of the Diaspora from places such as Madagascar, Barbados and Rwanda.
We sit down with its director Beyonder to find out the inspiration for the creation of this work. Read more here
Diaspora Diaries - Thursday 16 October 2008
Polka Theatre, 240 The Broadway, Wimbledon, SW19 1SB

Grants

One of the Njoya Foundation’s main goals is to fund community based projects that focus on the development of our young boys/men of African and African-Caribbean descent in the UK. Below is an example of one of the projects our contributions have helped to make possible.

SE1 United

The Njoya Foundation recently provided funding for a Leadership programme run by a Youth forum SE1 United based in North Lambeth/Southwark.

The Leadership programme works with young Black African and Black African-Caribbean men between the ages of 14-15 during the summer holidays who are about to go into the final year of their GCSEs. The project aims are improving their self-confidence, their career aspirations, tackling the growing gang affiliations that have developed in the area, improving their employability, and giving them something to do during the summer!