We grew from the Ragged Schools movement of the 19th century, inspired by the simple idea that every young person, irrespective of background and circumstance, has something to gain from somewhere to go, something to do and someone to talk to.
We spent the twentieth century as two separate charities, The Federation of Boys’ Clubs and The Union of Youth Clubs (which was pretty much for girls). We got it together in 1999 to create The Federation of London Youth Clubs. That’s still our legal name, though we prefer London Youth.
Maybe more than a million of young Londoners have been through our doors at one time or another.
We’re proud of our history. Not least because we are the inheritors of an awesome tradition – helping young people be the best they can be since 1885. Youth work’s not a complicated idea. It’s just a very good one.
