The Reds moved off the bottom of the table with a hard fought draw against Villa.
The result ends a sequence of five consecutive defeats for Steve Cooper's side who move up to 19th in the table.
The City Ground crowd roared on as Dennis capitalised on some poor marking to head in Morgan Gibbs-White's free-kick.
Seven minutes later, Young scored with a 25-yard effort that flew into the left corner.
It was Young's first goal for Villa since he was in his first spell at the club, and it was the only notable moment of attacking inspiration from both sides.
Steven Gerrard's team had an Ollie Watkins effort correctly ruled out for offside and appeals for a penalty waved away when Forest captain Ryan Yates appeared to catch Ezri Konsa, too often their final ball or shot lacked the precision to trouble home goalkeeperDean Henderson.
Cooper would have wanted to celebrate his new contract at the City Ground with a victory but he will be able to take a lot of satisfaction from seeing his team arrest a damaging run of results.
Cooper's first order of business was to end the dismal run that had seen them concede 18 goals in 450 minutes of football.
After making five changes to his starting XI, he was rewarded with a performance that offered more solidity and was a joy to watch.
There was always a retreating Forest defender on hand when Villa threatened to open them up. Yates prevented Watkins from tapping in at the far post.
There's more to come.
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