## **W** r **ite Back** r **T ustees’ Annual** R r **t epo - 1 Septembe** r **2020 31 August 2021** _Cha_ r _ity name: W_ r _ite Back Cha_ r _ity_ r _egist_ r _ation numbe_ r _: 1188293_ ## **Objectives an** d **Activities:** Write Back’s vision is for every young person to understand that they have a story to tell and have the capacity to tell it . We work to achieve this by building the confdence and capacity of young people to express themselves c reatively through the sharing of their stories. We do this by running collaborative storytelling programmes for marginalised young people which develop their creativity, self-esteem and confdence. The work of every young person on our rp ogrammes is published and celebrated. ## **About W** r **ite Back** Write Back started in a History classroom in 2015, working with Year 9 students to publish their stories of immigration. Those students went on to rc eate another book, three exhibitions across East London and pilot workshops for younger students. As those ro iginal students headed to university, in September 2019 we began running sessions for young people across the borough of Barking and Dagenham. In early 2020, we registered with the Charity Commission, formalising our status as an independent charity and recruited a board of t rustees. We run 10-week storytelling p rogrammes open to 13 to 16-year-olds i dentifed by their teachers as lacking confdence, self-esteem r ro a c eative outlet. These young people are referred to us by schools in Barking and Dagenham, and ra e then enrolled in our programmes at the Future Youth Zone, a local youth centre. The p rogrammes a re built of three key i deas: that every young person has a story to tell and the capacity to tell it; that da eep connection with the stories of others is often the most powerful way to learn; that young people should tell their stories in the way that they want them to be told. In each session we run confdence-building activities, engage with the writing of young authors and develop the stories of the participating young people. The 10week rp oject also involves working with writers and ra tists, and culminates with the celebration of the young people’s work in rf ont of their rf iends, families and teachers at a ‘graduation style’ book launch event. Through this work we aim to build selfrespect, community and independent voices for young people through the sharing of their stories. 1 CONFIDENTIAL DOCUMENT The rt ustees confrm they have had regard to the guidance issued by the Charity Commission on public beneft. ## **The nee** ## d Our work is focused in Barking and Dagenham because this is where our rp oject was created and where demand remains so rg eat. The borough is the 9th most deprived local authority in the country and well over a third of its young people and children live in poverty. Despite this, Barking and Dagenham has the joint fewest charities per head in the country. Research conducted by the local authority revealed that only 37% of young residents felt they had someone to talk to about rp oblems that worry them. The same research found that almost a third of young people felt optimistic ‘rarely’ o r ‘none of the time’. Our rp ogrammes have shown the rt ansformative impact storytelling can have. They provide young people with the opportunity to discuss the issues important to them – areas which ra e increasingly difcult to cover in the curriculum given the rg owing exam p ressures of secondary schools. Quantitative evaluations of our rp ogrammes as well as feedback rf om schools, families and the young people themselves have shown marked improvements for participant self-esteem and perceptions of themselves and their capabilities. We believe that storytelling can play a rc ucial role in ddra essing this situation by building young people’s respect for themselves and by developing rt ust and community amongst young people. ## **Key activities an** d **achievements: Septembe** r **2020 - August 2021** Write Back registered as a charity in the same month in which the rf st lockdown plunged the country - and much of the third sector - into chaos. Despite the changing guidance and uncertainty, rf om September 2020 - August 2021 we weathered the storms by da apting our rp ogrammes to be delivered online r o in hybr d i format (online and in-person). This meant we could continue supporting young people at a time when youth service p rovision was imperilled across much of the country. Over this period, Write Back ran over 100 hours of storytelling rp ogrammes and printed and celebrated the stories of 45 young people recruited rf om 5 local comprehensive secondary schools. 2 CONFIDENTIAL DOCUMENT We have run over 40 workshops for young writers on our main rp ogrammes and these storytellers rp oduced two anthologies of their writing. The rf st, published in January 2021 was 2020: Through the Eyes of Young People and ofered an insight into youth experiences of the pandemic. The second titled Build Back Better was released in July 2021 and outlined visions of change that the young people wanted to see. In dda ition to these workshops, we have hosted two public celebrations of the young people’s work. The rf st was held online in January 2021 in the middle of a lockdown. We also held a socially distanced in person celebration in July 2021 at the Barking Boathouse attended by families, f riends and teachers of the young authors. We have also developed a rg aduate rp ogramme for storytellers that have already completed the 10-week rp ogramme. These storytellers released a map co-created with designers rf om London Metropolitan University; rp oduced a website flled with their stories; worked with ra tists and academics rf om the University of Liverpool and the Stay Home Stories rP oject; and have rc eated ra p ofessional flm that rp emiered in the Being Human Festival, the wor dl ’s largest festival of the humanities. In dda ition to our main rp ogrammes, we have been supporting many of the young people who ro iginally helped to ‘found’ Write Back to publish a new book based on their experiences of race. This was launched at Toynbee Hall in August 2021 As a charity our rp imary goals ra e to build self-esteem among disadvantaged young people, to foster community among diverse participants and to help them develop techniques for telling their stories with confdence. We have seen this realised through our rp ogrammes and through the feedback we’ve received rf om young people, parents and schools. We have rp ofessionally rp inted the work of every enrolled young person, maintaining the 100% completion rate of our 10week-long rp ogrammes. At our ‘book launch’ events we’ve had further evidence of the increase of confdence that comes rf om young people having their work publicly celebrated. We also use the Rosenberg survey to measure changes in self-esteem and, through it, have seen a marked increase in the self-belief and resilience of young people on our programmes. 8 in 10 participants have shown a marked improvement in the selfesteem, on average by 24%. 100% of storytellers have rated their experience as ‘positive’ o r ‘very positive’. A secondary objective was to increase the connections of Write Back to develop the opportunities available to the storytellers. We have made progress towards this through establishing new connections with London Metropolitan University, University of Liverpool, Stay Home Stories, Queen Mary, Being Human festival and Pen to P rint. 3 CONFIDENTIAL DOCUMENT ## **Financial** r **eview** As a small charity founded in March 2020, Write Back does not have any fxed costs and therefore does not have a policy on reserves. However we will seek to develop a risk-based reserves policy as the charity grows and its fnancial commitments increase. Write Back’s rp incipal source of income in the 18 month accounting period to August 2021 has been a £10,000 grant received rf om the Shackleton Foundation in November 2020. Write Back also received £2,600 rf om schools who refer students to Write Back’s storytelling rp ogrammes, holiday club workshops and a one-of rt aining course. ## **Futu** r **e plans: W** r **ite Back’s expansion in 2022 - 2023** We intend to turn Barking and Dagenham into a storytelling hub for young people. Building on our existing rp ojects with half the secondary schools in the borough, we aim to expand to work with all secondary schools in Barking and Dagenham, running 11 storytelling rp ogrammes and over 110 hours of storytelling intervention for more than 120 young people in the academic year starting September 2022, overseen and delivered by da edicated local coordinator. The work of all participating young people will be rp ofessionally rp inted, published and celebrated at local ceremonies, putting Barking and Dagenham on the map as a place where the stories of young people matter. ## **List of** r **t ustees** Alex Newton, Chair of T rustees Daven Hindocha, T reasurer Sam Norwood, T rustee Grace Selley, T rustee ## R **egiste** r **e** d ddr **a ess** Write Back, Flat 21 Dethick Court, Ford Road, London, E3 5PQ ## D **ecla** r **ations** 4 CONFIDENTIAL DOCUMENT The rt ustees declare that they have approved the rt ustees’ report above. Signed on behalf of the charity’s t rustees **----- Start of picture text -----**
Signatu r e(s)
Full name(s)
Samuel No r woo d Alexan d e r Newton
Position (eg r T ustee an d Foun d e r Chai r of r T ustees
Sec r eta r y, Chai r , etc)
D ate 24 . 05 . 2022
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5 CONFIDENTIAL DOCUMENT (HARITY (OMM15510N FO* LNGLAND I'IAIES Wfite Back Charity no.. 1188293 Receipts and payments accounts CC16a For the period from 02-Mar-20 To 31.Aug-2fj Section A.Receipts and payments Unre5tr¢cted lunds Restr*cted funds Endowment fvnds Total funds Last year totlit neaFes¢ to the neaTosI£ tothe n*afyst E lo Ihe neares1£ k) Ihe *e¥Ye51 £ Al Recei GTaDts afjd 4onaton$ Charfablts a¢Tr¥tses-wOtk#ho￿ B progiammes 10.020 10,020 2.G10 2,810 Sub total {G￿3S income for ARI 12.630 12.6>) A2 Asset and investment sales, See table ub tota Total receipts 12,630 12.63D A3Pa ments Swon rÈSOu¢ces Slvdent putljeaaons End ol Piogiamme ei'ents Adverttsing and publicity Pnntng & PoslagÈ Websrte Guest spea%etS 1,3TT 1,344 1}77 361 321 296 151 136 6S 321 296 136 65 4.691 Sundry eNpense8 Suta total 4,691 A4 A55?t and investment urchases see tsble Sub total 4,691 4,691 Net of receipts/(payments) AS Transfers befv￿n furtds A6 Cash funds last year end Cash funds this year end 7,939 7,gJ9 £1.402 1,402 9,342 5.342 CCXX Rl accounts ISSI I21￿12022 Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period Unrestricted funds lo neaiest£ Flestricted fund$ lo neaiesl E Endowment funds to neaie5te B1 Cash funds at bank 9.342 Total cash funds 9.342 Unrestricted funds ID near&5t£ Restrt¢ted funds lo neaie5t£ Endowment funds to nearest £ B2 Other monetary assets Fund towhich a55elb210 Cuirentvalu¢ ona Cost (Opt￿￿￿￿1 Fund towhkh asset bdon Curionl value optional Cost loptiunèll B4 Assets retaineij for the charity's own use F￿nd lo which Am¢unl due When due BS Liabilities SNJned by one or Iwo Illl¥lees op behalf ol all the tru51ee5 Date of rrjval Signature Print Name DAVEN HINDOCHA 02-May-22 SAM NORWOOD Iz/¥/ CCXX F12 accounis1551 1210512022