Welcome to BRA CIC — why we exist

Bullying Recovery and Awareness CIC was born from a simple but painful observation: the communities most affected by bullying — particularly UK Nigerian, African-Caribbean, and other diaspora communities — were the least visible in national anti-bullying conversations, and the least served by mainstream services.

The origin

Our founder, Shirley Faponnle, spent years informally supporting young people in her community through the aftermath of bullying. What began as church-hall conversations and supplementary-school mentoring grew into a recognised community service — but it was clear that the need was far greater than any one person could meet.

In 2024, Shirley formalised the work as a Community Interest Company. BRA CIC was created to bring structure, safeguarding, and sustainability to work that had been happening on goodwill alone — and to ensure that the communities most affected by bullying had a voice in shaping the response.

The gap we fill

Mainstream anti-bullying services do important work, but they often miss the specific experiences of diaspora communities. Colourism, hair-based bullying, tribalism, faith-based harassment, and the intersection of cultural expectations with UK school systems — these are real experiences that generic anti-bullying frameworks don’t always address.

BRA exists to bridge that gap. We work alongside mainstream services — not in competition with them — bringing cultural fluency, community trust, and a diaspora lens to anti-bullying work.

Our four pillars

Everything we do serves one of four goals, named in our founding mission:

• Awareness — naming bullying honestly and centreing real stories
• Advocacy — pushing for stronger policy in schools, workplaces, and platforms
• Protection — direct support for those at risk, routed to the right help fast
• Culture — empowering young leaders to build kindness from the ground up

What’s next

We’re building BRA step by step — workshops, ambassador training, community events, and a growing resource hub. This website is part of that: a place where young people, parents, educators, and community leaders can find real, practical, culturally-aware support.

If you’d like to be part of this work — as a volunteer, donor, partner, or ambassador — we’d love to hear from you.