Dreams That Lead to No. 10 Downing Street:

“I am Just an African girl with a dream, a dream to change the world around me, a dream to change lives one at a time.” These words encapsulate the driving force behind our Founder Helene Rodger. Dreams are the fuel that propel Passion4Fusion forward, and they remind us that change is possible.
Our dream is rooted in a commitment to empower young people through social action to understand and manage their mental health and wellbeing. We believe that by offering support and fostering awareness, we make a difference, one life at a time.
Receiving an invitation to No. 10 Downing Street was an affirmation that our dream was worth pursuing. It was an acknowledgment that the work we were doing, the conversations we were having, and the impact we were striving for had not gone unnoticed.
The visit was part of our broader efforts to promote youth social action funded by BBC Children In Need’s We Move Fund.

Our Project provides a safe space for young people to grow, share, and learn about their emotions and mental wellbeing.

Like the young people, I was very excited to be going to Downing Street, to speak to policy makers and hear how they are supportive of youth work, said Helene. It felt like being on a special mission. Arriving in London, there was a buzz from myself
and the young people thinking about how we shall elevate our voices but most importantly the voices of other black and brown young people that we support. I couldn’t wait to take a picture at Number 10. That door. I panicked when I realised, I didn’t not have my ID on me as this was a requirement to go in. There is no way we will not get in after we travelled all the way, Ethan and Maia had told friends and family that they were going to Downing street, imagine not getting in because of ID.
This was sorted very quickly, (story of another day) At the door, I think our young people took the most pictures, you could feel the excitement, or may be they just wanted to show off to their friends. As a founder I was beaming with pride when they spoke about their social action group activities and the challenges faced by the young people. They talked about how parents need to be understanding when young people are ‘going through things’ They discussed the stigma of how they viewed mental health before they joined the Social Action group. Our young people are now helping each other and creating peer support networks within their communities while also creating content that they will share online to raise awareness. This was such an incredible opportunity not only to showcase our work but to meet like minded organisations supporting multi ethnic young people.