Our commitment to ensuring that Damilola’s death means hope, life and opportunities for Britain’s disadvantaged and under privileged youths is stronger today more than ever before.
There is a stark urgency for greater inter-agency, partnership and people centred approaches to helping young people face the challenges of responsibility and adulthood. Meeting the challenges of youth requires approaches that are focused, current and innovative.
The Trust is committed to focussing on young people’s real, everyday social needs and it implements programmes and activities that augment and improve personal and social development needs. The Damilola Taylor Trust partners with young people to enable them realise their potential as they journey into a fulfilling adulthood.
We have developed projects to guide children and young people who are vulnerable to gang and knife crime and those at risk of being kicked out of schools. Young people can feel unsure or even apathetic about their future, lack of guidance and ambition, can make young people vulnerable to social circles that promote anti-social values. Our partnership and team approach to coaching, teaching, and inspiring young people to recognize and realize their dreams keeps young people occupied, away from the streets, and guides them towards improved life chances.
DTT aligns its resources with activities that have the greatest impact – enabling its beneficiaries to make a significant transition in thinking and self-knowledge so as to improve their life chances.
The following beliefs guide the vision and the interventions of the charity.
- The recognition that every child has a talent, which can be supported and encouraged by a caring supporting environment.
- Activities related to the arts and the imagination can provide clients with a creative outlet and expose them to ways of expressing their ideas and emotions that they cannot express in language alone.
- Emphasis on establishing a relationship between young people, especially males and a trusted adult, so that empathy and healthy attachment can be fostered between young people and their senior peers or older adults.
- An understanding of the context of emotional hurt and recognition of children’s vulnerabilities without the attribution of blame, responding to challenging behaviour with empathy and loving care.
- A partnership approach that allows collaborations with the community, media, other charities and institutions such as King’s College London GKT School of Medical Education to expand the charity’s work so it would reach groups of young people from educationally and socially disadvantaged backgrounds who might otherwise not have the confidence to have lofty aspirations and believe they can work to achieve them.
Interested in working with us and making a difference?
Contact us at Email: damilolataylortrust@gmail.com
Telephone: 07404979044 / 07949700436