Renaissance Foundation celebrates the success of the 24-25 Programme Year
In April, Renaissance Foundation held an Awards and Celebration event to mark the achievements of our young people in the 2024-25 programme year. Held at our Youth Hub in the City of London, the Celebration saw a range of individuals coming together: young people currently participating in our programme, graduates, young peoples’ parents and family members, volunteers, partners, donors, board members, and advisors.
Everyone has had a massive part to play in what has been another fantastic year at Renaissance Foundation. In the 24-25 programme year, we supported 96 young people, delivered 94 activities and conducted 159 one-on-one sessions! However, we are much more than the numbers; our motto is to transform the lives of Young Londoners, and we carry this in everything we do. We aim to inspire the young people, but they also inspire us.
At the event, we had the pleasure of speaking to parents about the impact Renaissance Foundation has had on their children. One parent, when speaking about her son, mentioned how “Renaissance Foundation allows him [the] space to have fun, to have a break from home and enjoy himself. He’s so polite and hardworking and I'm so proud of him”.
Having joined Renaissance Foundation in 2024, within the space of a year we have seen this young person develop and build his confidence. He has become self-assured, engaging in many activities outside of Renaissance Foundation such as football and police cadets. The parent further added that “Renaissance took my boy and made him a really confident man”. This progress is exactly what we hoped to celebrate during our Awards event - all of our young people have come such as a long way since they have joined us!
As part of the Awards and Celebration event, there were a range activities and games for the young people to play; from the world’s largest game of UNO, to Connect 4, card games, and even FIFA on the PlayStation, there was something for everybody to get stuck into. As much as Renaissance Foundation aims to inspire and educate, creating a safe space where our young people can relax is the basis from which to achieve this.
Once everyone had arrived for the event, Corey began the Awards Ceremony by sharing highlights of the best trips and sessions from the year. These included a Formula 1 Press Day where the young people met Lewis Hamilton, an Anti-Discrimination session at Chelsea FC, a trip to Audible, and of course the trip to Oslo, where our young people attend the Nobel Peace Prize every year.
Corey also presented individual Awards to our young people: all the Renaissance Foundation graduates were presented with an award and certificate to celebrate their amazing achievements during their time on our programme. We also had some extra categories including: most likely to be the next Grammy winner, most likely to be the next Prime Minister, most likely to win a Nobel Peace Prize, most likely to win an MBE or Knighthood, and most likely to be the next Miriam Waterman Artist!
During the event, we also had the opportunity to hear from the young people themselves, who spoke about the impact Renaissance Foundation has had on their lives, what they love about the charity, and their favourite memories whilst with us. There were lovely reflections, with one young person expressing how they “love the community here. No two Wednesdays are the same. I love the opportunities to meet new people. Renaissance Foundation gives me a few hours off from home life and a safe space where I can really express myself”.
Another young person expressed how they “get to be in a space where I can meet and make friends, where I meet people who go through the same things as me and so we can relate to achieve other”. The young people are also incredibly profound, with one young person explaining how one thing they’d come to believe through joining Renaissance Foundation is that “people don’t remember what you’ve said, they only remember how you made them feel”. Our Awards and Celebration event truly demonstrated how far the young people have come in the time they have been with us, and they fully deserved the praise and adulation they received!
Finally, we tested everyone on their Renaissance Foundation knowledge with a surprise quiz! Whilst a young person won the quiz, the adults thoroughly enjoyed themselves with one of our guests even saying that “this is the most fun I've had in ages”. The Celebration was capped off with Domino’s pizza - a Renaissance Foundation classic - before the event concluded. Thank you to everybody who made this Awards and Celebration possible, we’re excited to see you all again next year!