
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


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 first conference

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


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.


Youth Ambassadors Project

Youth Awards Ceremony

The launch of the URBOND Youth Club

URBOND first conference

Third Charity Ball

Second Charity Ball