The SBWA is a registered charity (No. 1056856) and was set up in 1992 to support the  Somali and Bravanese community, many of whom had escaped war and persecution in Somalia. Our community experience all the difficulties of a largely refugee and immigrant community; language and cultural orientation, problems in accessing training and employment, and cultural and religious isolation, particularly among the women of the community.

In 2013 a suspected arson attack on our premises brought our work to a halt. Appropriate accommodation had been difficult to find and the morale and confidence of the community was low. Support from the wonderful people and organisations of the local area in Finchley was fantastic and along with support from the local authority we were able to rebuild the Centre to resume the great work that our community was doing.

After more than eight years without a real home, the promise of a new centre for the Bravanese became a reality. In 2019 we moved into the recently built, brand new building, Tarling Road Community Hub on the former site of the Old Barn Community Centre in East Finchley where we started our work way back in the 1990s.