Rashid is a youth mentor, educator, journalist, social commentator and parent. His real political awakening was when his Brixton housing estate was targeted for regeneration, thereby dividing a closely-knit community. Rashid spent five years at Westminster REC as a mentoring expert, designing programmes for hard to reach young people as well as serving as a community representative, training police officers. He mobilized residents, but it was the shortcomings of local politicians that led him to the Green Party and stand for office in local and national elections, raising their profile amongst BME voters.