OUR HISTORY
We began our journey in 2017 as the 'Young Hammersmith & Fulham Foundation’, as part of a wider movement to strengthen youth services at a local level.
Our charity was born out of the Young People’s Foundations (YPF) model which was created in response to the rapid decline of youth services across London following years of underfunding and local authority cuts. Young People’s Foundations are place-based infrastructure organisations. They respond to the unique needs of the borough and were designed to bring together the public, private, and voluntary sectors to build sustainable, community-led support for children and young people.
In 2017, we started small. Two staff members (shout out to Gareth, our CEO who is still at the helm of our ship) and a couple of handfuls of voluntary organisations, who knew they needed support but didn’t yet know what that could look like. In the early years, much of our work felt exploratory. Gareth recalls spending a lot of that time doing a lot of direct engagement work with local community organisations and listening. We had conversations with youth workers, people from the local authority, voluntary sector youth organisations, schools, and young people themselves to understand the borough’s needs - and subsequently work to address them.
At our core, Young Hammersmith & Fulham has always been about one thing: identifying the need within our borough’s youth sector, and doing something about it.
One major milestone was the production of the Growing Up in Hammersmith & Fulham report - a peer-led research project that helped us, and others, see Hammersmith & Fulham through young people's eyes. From the project we learned more about the complex relationship between the police and different groups within our community. We acted on those learnings by launching a ten-part network bringing together local organisations and police officers to discuss different topics relating to building more trust between police and the community. When we saw brilliant youth groups being frozen out of large funding opportunities, we co-designed the SYNC consortium with our community members, enabling these organisations to work together to bid for funding, and deliver big-impact projects like Ready Steady Connect and DRIFT.
In 2025, we are still small - but a little more mighty. We’ve quadrupled the number of staff we have (no more writing newsletters long into Friday nights and crying at Mailchimp for Gareth) and our community membership has grown from 25 to over 100. But whilst our membership offer is now more structured, we’ve kept our relational approach. We still pride ourselves on knowing the people behind every organisation we support - seriously, ask our Membership and Sector Development Manager, Hannah - she genuinely knows them all.
Young Hammersmith & Fulham has always, and will always, shape itself around the needs of the borough’s youth sector. That’s why our projects, partnerships, and focus areas continue to change and grow. Because the best way to support young people is to build the sector that stands behind them.
So that’s the story - so far…
OUR BRAND EVOLUTION
In 2025, we officially became Young Hammersmith & Fulham (Young H&F for short) and revamped our look to reflect the bright, bold personality we are! And just to clear up any confusion we’re definitely not YHF - those are our friends over in Harrow!
When we launched in 2017, we were known as the Young Hammersmith & Fulham Foundation. Our original name reflected both our founding structure and our mission: to support children and young people across the borough through collaboration and investment in the local youth sector.
Our first logo featured a stylised version of the Hammersmith Bridge, cleverly designed to also resemble people holding hands. This symbol of place and connection has always been central to who we are.
As our role in the borough evolved, so did the way people referred to us.
Many of our members, partners and young people naturally shortened our name to Young Hammersmith & Fulham, or simply Young H&F. At the same time, it became clear that the word ‘Foundation’ no longer reflected the full breadth of our work. Whilst funding remains a core part of what we do, much of our focus is also on strengthening the youth sector holistically - through training, convening, capacity building, and community engagement.
We wanted a name that better captured how we’re seen by our community - collaborative, adaptable, and responsive to local needs. Something simpler, more accessible, and better suited to digital spaces.
With this evolution in name, we knew our logo needed to develop too. We wanted to hold on to its essence while making it bolder and more eye-catching for today’s audiences. The central head in the design doubles as a location pin – a subtle nod to place and belonging that grounds us in Hammersmith & Fulham.
