Ensuring customer voices are heard is core to Look Ahead’s values. That is why we are sharing this fantastic speech given by Omar, a customer from our Tower Hamlets Young People services, at a Race for LandAid fundraiser event, run by the property industry charity LandAid who are supporters of our work.
You can read Omar’s speech below:
Home means different things to different people. For some, it’s a milestone, moving out, starting a career, stepping into independence with family cheering them on. It’s a moment of excitement and possibility.
But for young people in the care system, independence is not always met with celebration. Sometimes, it’s just relief after years of instability, years spent moving from house to house, foster family to foster family, social worker to social worker, adapting again and again and yet again. Privacy is rare, and the words ‘be patient,’ ‘be grateful,’ and ‘get on with it’ become routine.
I spent nearly three years in a semi-independent house, living alongside other young people, but we barely spoke. We had different lives, different struggles, and the space never felt like home. Occasionally, they’d share frustrations, about family, social workers, the uncertainty of it all. And though our experiences weren’t identical, the feeling was the same: the search for stability.
(Left: LandAid Chief Executive, Paul Morrish, Right: Look Ahead customer, Omar)
That search isn’t unique. Nearly 40% of care leavers aged 19–21 are not in education, employment, or training, three times the rate of their peers.* One in three care leavers experiences homelessness within two years of leaving care. These numbers aren’t just statistics, they represent real lives, real futures hanging in the balance.
For me, Look Ahead provided something I hadn’t had before, guidance and a community of others like me. My key worker wasn’t there to fix everything, but they listened. We met once or twice a month, talked about life, school, work, and what came next. They helped me understand choices I didn’t even know I had. And through Look Ahead, I found opportunities to connect with other care-experienced young people, to be part of something bigger, to do things that actually mattered to me. Having that kind of shared experience, it makes a difference.
Applying for LandAid’s bursary can be an opportunity that helps to build something meaningful.
Look Ahead’s work isn’t just about housing, it’s about changing lives. It’s about giving young people the foundation to build something for themselves, to break cycles of uncertainty, and to shape futures that once seemed out of reach. The choices and commitments made today aren’t just helping individuals, they’re shaping a generation. A generation that deserves the chance to thrive, to be seen, to step into independence with possibility, not fear.
There is still more to do. More young people facing homelessness, more futures hanging in the balance. The support, the funding, the belief, it all matters. And the work you are doing now is making that difference. So let’s keep pushing forward, keep opening doors, keep turning survival into opportunity. When we invest in young people, we don’t just change their lives, we change the world they will help build.
Ends
*Statistics from recent parliament hearing and Drive Forward Foundation.
