This month we are pleased to profile 100 Black Men of London. Led by committed Black Men, the charity delivers programmes designed to empower young people and their community through mentoring and shared learning. Mental Health has always been a key element of their work, with a focus on topics such as Coping with Isolation, Communication, Family Dynamics, and Signs of Stress within the black community. They focus on these issues to raise awareness of mental health and promote their services for their community and practitioners alike.

We caught up with Ola Oyalegan, President of the charity, to learn more about their important work.

What does 100 Black Men of London do?
Our vision is to be the leading youth and community development organisation that uplifts our community and empowers our youth to be the best version of themselves. To achieve this, our charity delivers programmes that focus on four key areas of concern: Mentoring; Education; Economic Empowerment; and Health & Wellness. We call them our Four for the Future. We believe that providing leadership on these four areas is the key to the growth and prosperity of our youth and community.

We have been serving our community since 2001 and celebrated our 19th year in April. In that time we have created and delivered a wide range of programmes including our accredited Community Mentoring Programme, the 100 Book Club, Fathers’ Day Quality Time, Education through Film, Family Fun Day, Leadership Development Programme, Audience with our Children debate, Black History Challenge, and more.

What challenges are there in east London with regards to the issues that your service users face?
There are multiple challenges facing the young people we work with, including a lack of role models to look up to, the pressure to join gangs, post code wars, truancy, and county lines issues. The 100 have taken these challenges as mentoring and coaching points over the last 19 years, helping the young people we work with to understand the importance of going to school and how they can achieve success in both school and life. We can see the positive impact of this work in many ways, from reduced truancy to improved grades.

Do you have an inspirational story that you would like to share?
Jonas Andrew Philips started the programme three years ago. In that time he has progressed through the mentoring programme to become a shining example. He was Diamond of the Year for 2018/19 and has come back into the organisation as a peer mentor. Joining The 100 allowed Jonas to find his voice and grow into a young man with an aspiring career as a motivational public speaker. Today you’ll find him blogging and connecting with the community on many platforms, being a positive example of a young man having the vision and confidence to chase his goals.

What are the current challenges that your organisation is facing?
The media is filled with numerous examples of the negative narrative of young people in London. We at the 100 Black Men of London, seek to change that narrative, determined to create positive examples through positive actions and experiences.

Our young people are achieving wonderful things, and all possess the potential for greatness, they have seen a better way through our intervention and turned their lives around; we are so proud of them as an organisation that we continuously celebrate them and ensure their accomplishments are recognised.

The young people are the future and with us the future is bright, the future is our diamonds, and they are learning to understand the challenges they face and how to overcome them in a responsible manner that adds value to them, their community and the society at large.

Together we can realise our vision, which is why there has never been a better time to collaborate with us as we are eager to build new alliances and work together with socially responsible partners to uplift, engage and inspire our young people positively along with members of our society.