Who We Are
Food 4 Da Brain (F4DB) is a project run by Kennington Community Fellowship, part of the Seventh-day Adventist church network and is within the South England Conference. F4DB was established in 2000 to work with young people from the Moorlands Estate in Brixton, South London. The project grew spontaneously when one women opened her heart and her door to young people in the area.
Seven years later F4DB is still working on the Moorelands Estate and is continuing to grow. The project runs once a week and is a place where young people can come to feel safe, hang out, talk, and get some good home cooked food.
The Area
Brixton is an area of South London which is home to a large community of African and Carribean immigrants which dates back to their arrival off the Windrush in 1948. Although some areas are benefiting from regeneration, there are areas which are still being rocked by the social instability and memories of the riots of April 1981, September 1985 and the 1990s and they are still etched on everyone’s memory.
As a consequence of tensions with the police, and because of racism and marginalisation, communities still feel cut off from the rest of London. Unemployment and underemployment continues to be a concern and mistrust and fear still exists. Underachivement at school leaves young people feeling hopeless and as a result they feel increasing marginalised and excluded.
Moorlands is just one of the areas in Brixton where tensions run high and which is classified by the police as a ‘hotspot’. Some young people resort to crime and, in the past few years there has been an alarming increase in the incidences of crime involving knives and guns. Young people loose hope, feel trapped and give up.
Our Supporters
Currently we are supported through a mix of volunteering and the patronage of its founder. Funding applications are made but these can be hit and miss and do not give a guaranteed income. The last successful application for funding was 2005/6.
As we develop F4DB, we are keen that it becomes increasingly self sustaining to avoid periods were we are in reciept of no funding. In the meantime, we will continue to receive support through a mix of funding streams, voluntary donations and fundraising programmes.
Objectives:
1. To help the youth in our community develop a greater sense of value for their lives and the lives of their peers.
2. To provide a safe space for the youth in our community to express and talk about issues concerning them.
3. To provide the youth in our community a chance to expand their knowledge culturally and geographically in order to expand their world view.
4. To help the youth in our community develop a sense of self and the emergency of the times we live in as taught by the Bible.
5. To help the youth in our community build lasting relationships with each other and learn to rely on Jesus a trustworthy friend.
6. To build a community of focused and zealous youth desiring to fulfil their God given potential through the socialising found at F4DB.
Aims:
Through these objectives the aim of F4DB is to transform the mindset of the youth living in the Brixton area starting with the community we find ourselves in which is Moorlands Estate.
F4DB wants to develop contagious and effective young people that will inspire other young people to fulfil their potential and live their lives above the norm of the present youth culture and prepare them for the new life to come.
Visit our blog for regular updates.
Pastor Eddie Hypolite
