The Work of the Trust

Since its formation in 1998 The Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust has been committed to supporting young people from diverse, disadvantaged backgrounds to help them to break the social and economic barriers that stood between them and a career in architecture and urban design, Stephen’s chosen career.   We have awarded  nearly 100 bursaries and having now seen our eighth “Stephen” qualify as an architect.

In 2008 with the help of Public funding we opened the magnificent Stephen Lawrence Centre in Deptford SE8 as a centre of excellence for architecture and design and the wider built environment.   Whilst we are pleased with the achievements and the change that we have in some small way been able to encourage within this profession we want to do more.  A lot more.  However, for that to happen we would have to do more with less as our traditional sources of income came to an end.

We knew that we’d only scratched the surface.   There are many more people who find themselves confronted with seemingly insurmountable obstacles to entry into other under-represented professions, such as Law, Financial Institutions, and the media and so we resolved that the Stephen Lawrence Centre would not just be a centre for architecture and the built environment professions but it would be an environment in which aspiring young people could be built-up and readied to be change champions in their own right.

The Trust decided that our primary focus would be the promotion of social justice which we translate as being creating a level-playing field to ensure equity and fairness.

And so the Stephen Lawrence 18:18 Access & Opportunity Fund was conceived to coincide with the 18th anniversary of Stephen’s death who was 18 when he died.

Our goal is to have as much impact in the realm of social justice as the Lawrence case has had on the criminal justice system. Your presence here this evening helps us to achieve that ambition.  Thank-you. But don’t stop there, we’ve so much work to do and we’re aiming to raise £1,000,000 for the fund to provide the engine to drive the  Trust’s social justice agenda.

The fund will support the Personal Learning & Development programmes designed to:

• Provide opportunities and access for people facing barriers to support them into employment, education or training

• Provide opportunities and access for young people from disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds to broaden their life chances, increase their confidence and raise their skills

• Provide opportunities for the community to come together and take part in activities and courses at the Stephen Lawrence Centre

The key programmes that will be delivered are And deliver the following programmes:

•  Stephen Lawrence – Smarter Communities which is the name of our communities’ programme, which provides employability, creative and skills development activities and courses for local residents of all ages.

•   Stephen Lawrence – Job Ready Programme which is the name of our employability programme, which provides practical courses and access to information, advice and support to people seeking and entering employment and     self-employment.

•    Stephen Lawrence – Good to Great is the name of our educational programme which is designed to provide financial and work readiness support for young people from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds enter and sustain careers in under-represented professions including:

• Architecture and the Built Environment

• Financial Institutions

• The Legal profession

• The Media