Biography
Fazlul Haq founded the Bangladeshi Youth Organisation (BYO) in 1982 in a basement on Cornwall Road, Manningham, setting up Bradford's dedicated Bangladeshi youth service at a moment when the mills were closing and a new generation needed new pathways. He is recognised as the first qualified Bangladeshi youth worker in the north of England. BYO was born from the recognition that young Bangladeshis newly arrived in Bradford felt there was little for them, and wanted to organise to meet the growing needs of newly arrived families and children. Under Haq's founding vision, BYO grew from a basement meeting room into an institution that helped catalyse the creation of Manningham Housing Association in 1986; that association now manages over 1,400 homes for more than 6,000 residents. BYO went on to win the King's Award for Voluntary Service in 2023, its forty-first year of operation.