
Glamour, delicious food, fabulous entertainment, music and dancing all wrapped up into one sparkling evening. 153 guests from 37 nationalities attended our first annual charity ball. Among the attendees, we had guests from Leeds, Leicester, Manchester, London, Bognor Regis, Brighton, Chichester, Southampton, Bournemouth, Spain, Paris and the Republic of Guinea.

The event started at 7pm with welcome drinks and Opera performance by Lilliana. At 7.50pm guests were seated for their 3-course meal. At 9.50pm Mariato & Peter Diaz performed followed by performance from Decades live UK. There was ongoing entertainment til 1am. 

Your contribution helped us to raise a total of **£5,300** (and still counting!) which will go a long way to helping URBOND help advance education in one of the poorest countries in the world (Republic of Guinea). We are building a school for children in need, we will provide them with teachers, health care and the basic things in life for a better future.

We had some wonderful auction prizes donated by Richmond Motor Group, Paul Pogba, the Village hotel, Rowan Watts Photography and DJ Mark.

It all wouldn’t have been possible without the support of people in the community and beyond and companies that have donated their time and services free of charge. Special thanks to our sponsors Tennyson Ltd and Richmond Motor Group for their continuous support. Thanks to all those colleagues and guests of companies that have attended the events.


First Charity Ball


The annual black-tie fundraising event was held on the 6th November 2021 at the Marriott Hotel, Portsmouth. The event helped raise funds for children in need, celebrated the outstanding work of its volunteers and helped promote racial harmony, equality and diversity for the best interest of our city Portsmouth.

150 guests from 42 nationalities attended the annual black-tie event. Among the attendees, we had guests from Spain, Republic of Guinea, Paris, Leicester, Manchester, London, Bognor Regis, Chichester, Southampton, Bournemouth, and Birmingham.

Your contribution helped us to raise a total of **£13,710 **(and still counting!) which will go toward URBOND Child Education Programme (in the Rep. of Guinea, West Africa) which is working to improve access to primary education for children in areas where there are shortfalls.
 
It all wouldn’t have been possible without the support of people in the community and beyond and companies that have donated their time and services free of charge. Special thanks to our special sponsor Richmond Motor Group for their ongoing support. Thanks to [Gagliani & Co](https://www.instagram.com/gaglaniand/), Perfect Pear, [M3 Shop](https://www.instagram.com/m3shopuk/) , Success Connections and Daviun Vodka.  

Thanks to all those colleagues and guests of companies that have attended the events.


Second Charity Ball


The annual black-tie fundraising event was held on the 12th November 2022 at the Marriott Hotel, Portsmouth. 130 people attended the event and celebrated the outstanding work of the charity both in the Portsmouth (UK) and in Koutaya, Dubreka (Republic of Guinea).

Your contribution helped us to raise a total of **£8,571.37** (and still counting!) which will go toward URBOND Child Education Programme which is working to improve access to primary education for children in areas where there are shortfalls.

URBOND’s Child Education Programme was established in Guinea in 2019. It is currently based in Koutaya, Dubréka (Republic of Guinea), just north of Conakry. It seeks to dramatically improve the opportunities for access to education at all levels, and to provide basic educational and learning resources to children in need. It also seeks to work with young people to encourage them to stay in school where possible, and not to risk their lives leaving the country illegally for Europe. It has supported a total of 2,940 primary age children since 2019 – among these pupils, girls attendance with partner school has risen hugely by 62.2%.

To help with the fundraising, we had some wonderful auction prizes donated by Paul Pogba, Richmond Motor Group, University of Portsmouth, Proestetica Beauty, EuroStar, Jaimes Harrington, the Marriott hotel and Alseny Camara.

It all wouldn’t have been possible without the support of people in the community and beyond and companies that have donated their time and services free of charge. Special thanks to the special sponsor Richmond Motor Group for their ongoing support. Thanks to Gagliani & Co., POOW Media, Perfect Pear, Portsmouth News and Poppy Haskell for their amazing contribution. Thanks to all those colleagues and guests of companies that have attended the events.


Third Charity Ball



### Portsmouth charity hosted black-tie fundraiser to raise money for its charitable work in the UK and in the Republic of Guinea ###



A multi-award winning CHARITY that helps young people across the world hosted its 4th Annual glitzy black-tie event to raise funds for underprivileged young people in Portsmouth and overseas in the Republic of Guinea (West Africa).

URBOND a Portsmouth-based charity hosted a glamourous charity fundraising ball to help support their work with underserved young people in the city of Portsmouth through its Youth Development Programme and continue its ongoing work with children in the Republic of Guinea through its Child Education Programme.

Over 150 people pulled out their best dresses and suits for the do, which took place this past weekend at the Portsmouth Marriott Hotel. Guests enjoyed an evening full of entertainment, including the great comedian Adrian Doughty, music from DJ Mike Sullivan, alongside drinks and a three course meal.

To help the charity’s fundraising endeavours, they hosted a live auction where guests bid on one-of-a-kind collectables such as signed shirts from Manchester United, Liverpool Football legends and memorabilia from iconic stars including Adele and Madonna.

The headline sponsors for the night were Richmond Motor Group and SLR Marine Recruit. The following comment was made by Sam Nobes from Richmond Motor Group “The work that URBOND is doing here in our community and in the Republic of Guinea is invaluable, we are proud to support wherever we can.”

Sarah Roads at SLR also said on the evening, “SLR Marine Recruitment were so delighted to be a part of the charity event and having more of an insight into the amazing work they are doing within our city and overseas. URBOND is a very important organisation that SLR is excited to support.”

URBOND’s Community Integration Programme is helping advance racial harmony, equality and diversity for the public benefit. Since inception in 2013, the charity has brought together over 50,000 people and is continuing to provide support to the Portsmouth community through its sporting activities, community works, workshops and seminars, social events, women’s group and hard talk forum.

Under URBOND’s Youth Development Programme, which operates in Portsmouth, the charity works with local partners to provide opportunities, wellness and success to young people in the city. This year alone, the programme has seen a staggering 7,596 participants at activities and events, engaged with 156 young people every single week, organised over 437 activities and events, and spent 1,131 hours with young people providing support and prospects for their future. The programme is growing year and year, which is why URBOND is seeking support from its community so they can continue with their great work.

On Thursday 5th October, 8 volunteers took the trip to Dubreka, the Republic of Guinea to develop the building of their new school and help tackle barriers preventing young girls from attending school, as well as teaching IT, English and Media classes to young children as part of URBOND’s Child Education Programme. The programme’s aim is to improve access education, empower communities, provide support to teachers and help change the lives of children in need. So far, the charity has supported over 20,000 primary school children in Guinea, donated over 15,000 basic items and study materials, educated over 12,000 young boys about girls’ protection and sexual violence and educated over 10,000 young girls on menstruation.

URBOND’s charity ball event is held every year to raise funds and raise awareness on it’s dedication to help children and young people that would otherwise go without. This year, the ball raised an amazing **£11,354** and still counting!

 If you would like to donate to URBOND, please visit their website at [www.urbond.org](https://urbond.org) and click the ‘Donate Now’ button.

You can now also Sponsor a Child in the Republic of Guinea where your donation will go directly to supporting a children’s basic needs such as food and clothes along with covering the costs of them going to school. For more information on how to Sponsor a Child, please visit [childeducation.urbond.org/what-we-do/sponsor-a-child](https://childeducation.urbond.org/what-we-do/sponsor-a-child)

Fourth Charity Ball


The URBOND team attended the Annual Shaping Portsmouth Conference on Friday 26th January where many local businesses and organisations came together to see the updates and developments in our city of Portsmouth.

During the conference, the Shaping Portsmouth Awards were presented including the ‘Education Award’, ‘Business Award’ and ‘Community Award’ which URBOND was the lucky winner of this year!

We are thankful to Shaping Portsmouth and Cllr Steve Pitt for their support and nominating us for this award.

URBOND wins Shaping Portsmouth Community Award!


URBOND, held its second conference event to shine a light on the work the charity has done around community integration and cohesion, youth support and providing education and opportunities to children in need across the world and the impact this created during 2023. Guests enjoyed an afternoon of inspiring speeches of all three of the programmes which are the Community Integration, Youth Development and Child Education along with an insight into the goals for the year of 2024. 

The Community Integration Programme was formed off the back of local integration issues to help advance racial harmony, equality and diversity for the city of Portsmouth and so far over 50,000 people spanning 80 different nationalities have benefitted from the programme.

The charity’s Youth Development Programme is working to drive opportunities, wellness and success for underserved young people and their future and is addressing prevalent issues in the city such as youth crime, obesity, low literacy rates and unemployment. In 2023, URBOND saw almost 8,000 young participants with 156 of those engaged every single week, organised over 400 activities and spent a staggering 1,131 hours with young people.

URBOND’S Child Education Programme is helping improve child education and provide opportunities to children in need in the Republic of Guinea (Africa), where there are major shortfalls and a severe lack of opportunities for young people. You will be able to hear from some of the charity volunteers who took the trip to the Republic of Guinea in October 2023 at the event where they will share their experiences. Since inception, the charity has supported over 20,000 primary school children under the programme, donated over 15,000 basic items and study materials and empowered teachers and parents on the need for education.

URBOND Conference 2024


On 26th January, URBOND hosted its first conference. Our guests enjoyed an afternoon of presentations of all three of the programmes which are the Community Integration, Youth Development and Child Education along with an insight into the charity goals for 2023.

Under the charity’s Community Integration Programme, [URBOND](https://www.linkedin.com/company/urbond/) have succeeded to bring together a staggering 40,583 people in Portsmouth spanning 78 different nationalities since inception in 2013. In 2022 alone, the charity had over 2,500 participants and beneficiaries under the programme.

URBOND Youth Development Programme, which is working to drive opportunities, wellness and success for young people, has benefitted almost 4,000 participants in the city with 147 of those engaging with the charity activities and support every single week. The charity works with children and young people particularly where issues such as crime and low-income are prevalent.

URBOND’s Child Education Programme has seen almost 3,000 primary school children supported in The Republic of Guinea, West Africa which is working to improve children's access to education in areas where they would otherwise go without. In 2022, the URBOND built a brand-new toilet facility for girls which over 600 girls now have access to every day, delivered menstruation and hygiene workshops, donated 2,200 basic items such as menstruation kits and dental hygiene equipment, taught English speaking classes to over 600 children, built a secure sports facility sponsored by the charity long term partner [Richmond Motor Group](https://www.richmondmotorgroup.com/search/) which over 1000 people now have daily access to, delivered irregular migration workshops, and facilitated disabled children with 1:1 support.

This year URBOND has plans to reach out to larger audience in Portsmouth to help advance racial harmony, equality and diversity. The Youth Development Programme is looking to grow relationships with local businesses and schools to expand and engage with more young people, providing them access to education and employment. URBOND’s Child Education Programme is planning to provide clean water to their partner school, open a technical training centre to provide job opportunities for young people, give disabled children the facilities and resources to go to school, build a school in a remote area of the country where children currently have no access to education and many more exciting projects to support the underprivileged communities.

Thank you to University of Portsmouth, Business and Law for hosting us and thank you to long term partner Richmond Motor Group for their ongoing support and POOW Media for helping change lives.


URBOND Conference 2023

On Friday 1st September, URBOND were very proud to introduce our Youth Ambassadors, who work together on issues affecting young people in our communities and help generate ideas and solutions to support everyone. It’s taken us 3 years of hard work before launching the scheme.

Our curated team of 16 Youth Ambassadors have strategically been selected among over 200 young people to work with our organisation, partners and professionals to help empower young people. They support them as they overcome obstacles, build confidence and resilience. In addition, our ambassadors work closely with us to help create opportunities, wellness and success for young people and their future. The ambassadors will progress not only in themselves but also progress the charity and be a voice for other young people in their community.


Youth Ambassadors Project


On Friday 14th July, URBOND hosted Portsmouth's first ever Youth Awards event to shine a light on the outstanding young people of our city.

The event was put together to celebrate and award young people that would otherwise get overlooked because of their background or status. 

We awarded young people on a number of qualities and areas of progression we have seen over the past year. The awards included: 'Best Team Player', 'Leadership Award', 'Work Experience Award' and more. We awarded 10 young people under URBOND’s Youth Development Programme but, in addition, dedicated an award to 6 other youth provisions in Portsmouth which included Motiv8, Play Youth Community, BYAC, Pompey in the Community, Music Fusion, Young Creatives. 

The Youth Development Programme is working to drive opportunities, wellness and success for young people and their future and is addressing prevalent issues in the city such as youth crime, obesity, low literacy rates and unemployment. A programme designed to support young people and provide them with the best opportunity to fulfil their potential (particularly those within settings where issues such as crime, etc are prevalent).

Sarah Roads at SLR Marine Recruit, the event’s headline sponsor said “SLR Recruitment was so delighted to headline the URBOND Youth Awards. We champion all the great work that URBOND is doing with our younger generations in the city, providing so many outlets to be part of a community and express themselves from sports to music and dance. The pride in all the children was obvious, not only for themselves but for their friends. SLR Marine Recruitment is really looking forward to working with URBOND in the future and supporting as much as we can.” 

Congratulations to the award winners:  Aidan Law (Best Role Model), Alfie Sibley (URBOND Award), Aston Dennison (Best Helper), Bobby Shimmon (Motiv8), Brandon Smith (BYAC), Charlie Emsley (Best Team Player), Curtis Agha (Work Experience), Elijah Maketo (Outstanding Creativity), Ingrid Souza Correa (Outstanding Visionary), Joy Okechekwu (Outstanding Leadership), Keira Delahay (Most Improved), Leon Hoepfner (Music Fusion), Lexie Johnston (Pompey in the Community), Oliver Sadler (The Young Creatives), Owen Ellwood (Play Youth Community), Shaneia Ford (Community Engagement)


Youth Awards Ceremony


### Young people of Portsmouth hosts Youth Ambassador launch event to promote their outstanding ideas to improve the city

A charity that supports underserved young people hosted the Youth Ambassador Campaign Launch Event to showcase their ideas on how they would like to improve the city of Portsmouth for other young people and the wider community.

URBOND, a multi-award-winning Portsmouth-based charity, hosted the event on Friday 1st December, to support its brightest young people in their endeavours to create a safer and stronger city for all. The event attendees included: Cllr Steve Pitt (Leader of the City Council) Cllr Suzy Horton, Hampshire Constabulary, local members of the community and the parents.

URBOND is proud to introduce their Youth Ambassadors, who work together on issues affecting young people in our communities and help generate ideas and solutions to support everyone.

Their curated team of Youth Ambassadors have strategically been selected to work with the organisation, partners and professionals to help empower young people. They support them as they overcome obstacles, build confidence and resilience. In addition, the ambassadors work closely with URBOND to help create opportunities, wellness and success for young people and their future.

URBOND’s Youth Ambassadors will share their stories and represent the voices of young people from URBOND and their respective communities, work together on issues affecting youth in our communities to come up with ideas and solutions to support all young people, empower, inspire and support our youth to become young professionals, share their own and other young people’s experiences and opinions on issues affecting their development, support us and our partners to develop youth friendly policies and procedures to create more opportunities for all young people, irrespective of their beliefs, backgrounds and ideologies.

The Youth Ambassadors are supported to effectively communicate and present their ideas, views and opinions to others, Interact with young people in an inspiring and engaging way, develop their passion, enthusiasm and commitment to supporting all young people in their journey towards becoming good citizens, work as a team to solve problems and come up with new ideas, use their initiative to recognise and act on opportunities which may align with the work of Youth Ambassadors and URBOND, promote and uphold the values of equality and diversity and behave in a non-discriminatory manner.

The campaigns URBOND’s ambassadors are working towards are Health & Wellbeing, Equality & Diversity, Opportunities and Community. Some of the ideas explained at the event included increasing the number of people first aid and lifeguard trained, to improve the level of mental health care provided, introduce more accessible sport sessions, increase the number of young people placed in work experience or apprenticeships, to host inter-generational community events and much more!

URBOND CEO, Ousmane Drame, added “The city of Portsmouth has some bright young people and we strongly believe they hold the key to creating a better future for our lovely city. Our job is to make sure we work closely with our Youth Ambassadors to make sure all young people in the city are provided with the tools and opportunities so they can do better in life. We are calling on all the

businesses, organisations and professionals in the local area to get in touch to find out how we can work together for the best interest of our city.”

 > A very inspiring event. I am looking forward to hearing what the Ambassadors have achieved over the next year. Cllr Steve Pitt

Cllr Suzy Horton who also attended the event made the following comment :

> The future looks great with these young people already leading in their community. I am very impressed

Youth Ambassadors Campaign Launch


We are very excited to announce the launch of the URBOND Youth Club! 

Children are often mentally challenged, isolated and unhappy! Youth clubs can be great places for kids to get back on their feet, with renewed confidence and a real sense of well-being and belonging. Not only these, but children also find youth clubs great places to make new friends and to become part of a new social group.

URBOND Youth Club is on every Tuesday Friday from 5pm at the at the Portsmouth Deaf Centre, PO1 1XL from 5pm. It is open access and free entry to all young people who would like to join us that are aged 8 and above.
