At StreetGames’ our primary mission is to increase the opportunities for young people from underserved communities to take part in local sport and physical activities, therefore when the chance arose to be part of a consortium of partners bidding for the Department for Education (DfE) Opening Schools Facilities programme, we were delighted to get involved.  Alongside the Active Partnerships Network, Youth Sport Trust and UK Active, we are supporting schools to open their doors out of school time to deliver sport and physical activities for both the school community and the local community in underserved areas.

In our role as a consortium partner, we deliver on three distinct aspects.  First, we help schools to embed youth voice at the heart of the opening schools facilities programming. Second, we enable schools to think more broadly about the people needed to implement the types of activities, making sure they align with the preferences of the young people. Lastly, we connect schools to our extensive network of locally trusted organisations (LTOs) that provide Doorstep Sport for young people in local community settings, assisting with delivery and engagement with young people.

Over the last few months, we have been working with Active Partnerships to ensure that we provide the right offer of support to enable schools to provide a varied and interesting offer for young people. In Hull, through a school engagement day, we encouraged schools to look at the Five Rights to Doorstep Sport; right place, right style, right cost, right people and right time. We also delivered a youth voice training session for the schools, providing ideas for the school staff on how to engage with students in such a way that the young people have the opportunity to voice their thoughts on how the Five Rights are delivered in the Opening School Facilities programme.

In the upcoming Autumn, we will be conducting extensive youth voice consultation sessions in schools across England. These sessions will empower young people, identified by the schools, to discuss the barriers, motivations, and enablers affecting their participation in sport and physical activities. This feedback will help schools create physical activity offers beyond regular school hours, catering to those who currently cannot access traditional community sports.

Schools are increasingly seen as community hubs and often have extensive facilities; through this fund, we have the opportunity to open up these assets to provide new and exciting sport and physical activity offers which meet the needs of both the school and local community.

Mark Lawrie – Chief Executive

As a former primary school teacher, PE Coordinator and first-generation TOP Sport trainer (a historical reference that some may need to Google!) I will always advocate for greater levels of resources and support for growing and developing PE and school sport. School should be the place where every child, regardless of their background and personal circumstances, has the best possible start to an active and healthy life. This week the Government published the latest iteration of the School Sport and activity plan (SSAP), setting out its ambition for PE and School sport and the resources to support its objectives.

In a post-pandemic environment, where poor mental and physical health are two of the greatest challenges facing our education and health systems, how does the plan address the ever-evolving needs of children and young people in 2023?

Positively, in a world where many of us call for closer collaboration between government departments, the SSAP is sponsored by the Department for Education, with input and support from both the Department of Health and Social Care and DCMS. The benefits of sport and physical activity cut across multiple areas of government, and to see this joined-up response is extremely heartening.

At a time when schools are under significant pressure to deliver achievement and attainment targets across the whole curriculum, the encouragement to include a minimum of 2 hours of PE time during the school day, every week, with equal access for boys and girls, reflects the vital role of PE in the overall wellbeing of children. An active child is a better learner – the evidence is compelling.

The equal access aspect of this ambition is vital. National data from the Active Lives survey for children and young people continues to show an activity gap between boys and girls. StreetGames’ experience from our award-winning Us Girls programme, is that getting the activity offer right for girls and young women from low-income families requires a clear understanding of what motivates girls to take part and how you can remove the barriers that prevent them. Fun, Fitness and Friends, the strapline for Us Girls, points towards the key motivators for those girls who might be considered ‘semi-sporty’, those for whom sport is not always their first choice. With this in mind, does the plan go far enough to consider how to address the sport and activity needs of all girls? What more can be done to engage those who perhaps do not identify as ‘sporty’ or see themselves as a future Lioness?

The ability to swim is about far more than access to sport; it is a life skill and can, at times, be a life-saving skill. The SSAP outlines how the DfE will work with Swim England and other partners to ensure that all primary-age children can swim before they head to secondary school. Access to swimming is one area where the disparities between more affluent and less affluent children are most stark. The poorest families spend no more than £3.65 per week on sport and active leisure. This is not per child but for the whole family. In most leisure facilities, this would not pay for a single swim. It is for this reason that StreetGames has developed Fit, Fed and Swim, working with Swim England and Birmingham City Leisure Trust. Fit, Fed and Swim is a legacy programme from Birmingham 2022 and provides access to breakfast and regular swimming lessons for those children whose families cannot afford to take them regularly.  The SSAP sets out that schools will be able to use their Primary PE Premium to support disadvantaged pupils to access swimming. Fit, Fed and Swim offers an opportunity to creatively blend this with addressing the wider needs of these children.

So where could the ambition in the SSAP have gone even further? It is really positive that the plan includes references to both the DfE Opening School Facilities (OSF) and Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) programmes. Both are important pillars in ensuring access to extra-curricular and holiday time sport and physical activity. StreetGames are delighted to be part of the consortium with the Active Partnerships, Youth Sport Trust and ukactive supporting the Opening School Facilities programme. Our offer within the programme is about ensuring that the activity offer takes into account the voice of young people. In Year 2 of OSF we will provide training that helps schools engage their young people both in sharing what works for them and in becoming part of the delivery of sport and activity outside school through youth social action.

The missing link in this ‘out of hours’ section of the SSAP is the vital role of community organisations in providing opportunities for children and young people to be active outside the school day. Competitive extra-curricular sport in school works for some young people and should always be available, but what about those for whom their motivation or ability to access is different? OSF offers a prime opportunity for schools to engage the locally trusted organisations in their community that provide the kind of informal sport and physical activity that StreetGames knows works for many children and young people from low-income backgrounds. The Sutton Trust have regularly reported on the barriers to access for disadvantaged pupils to extra-curricular activities. Their 2021 research brief on extracurricular inequality includes the stark statistic that top earners are almost four times more likely than bottom earners to have paid for out of school enrichment classes.  More than 65% of young people who attend Doorstep Sport sessions do no other sport or physical activity outside the school curriculum.

These inequalities deepen further during holiday times. With the current cost of living crisis, low-income families simply cannot afford to pay for children to regularly access sporting opportunities during holiday periods. The DfE Holiday Activities and Food programme has provided a lifeline to families with children eligible for Free School Meals and other vulnerable pupils. The expectation that all HAF provisions must include the Chief Medical Officer’s recommendation of 60 minutes of sport or physical activity every day means that children most at risk of inactive holidays can find safe, appropriate places to keep moving. StreetGames founded the HAF Active group of national sport sector organisations to encourage a collective response to the opportunity offered by HAF. As members of the wider HAF Alliance, we advocate for the importance of the sport and physical activity offer within holiday provision and for the vital role of trusted community organisations in delivering HAF provision. Our learning from being involved in the pilots for HAF in Newcastle through to our coordination of the largest HAF programme in the country in Birmingham, Bring It On Brum, has shown us how HAF can serve as a catalyst to ensure that disadvantaged children and young people have access to a sport and physical activity offer that works for them both with and beyond the holidays.

Returning to my opening comments, any resources and support for PE, School Sport and activity are to be welcomed, particularly when there are so many other priorities for government spending. The challenge now is to go beyond what is outlined in the SSAP and ensure that we include those children and young people who may be at risk of missing out and who also stand to gain the most from the benefits of access to sport and physical activity.

Young people today lead complex lives, and the reasons why some fall into crime or anti-social behaviour are also complex. Factors such as family relationships, poverty, lack of opportunities, and poor socialisation can all play a role. In addition, there are a range of theories which posit that the way we perceive, label and interact with young offenders or those at risk of offending can have a significant impact on their own mindsets and actions.

For young people who are at greater risk of offending, sport can provide a twin-track approach that prevents them from entering the Youth Justice System and towards activities that build strengths, capacities and potential whilst emphasising positive behaviours and outcomes. The opportunities for engagement and for ‘relationship building’, in and through sport, provide a valuable medium through which to offer this twin-track approach to empower young people to develop social capital and pro-social identities.

It is precisely this approach that has shaped the recent hugely successful intervention from the Ministry of Justice, the Youth Justice Sport Fund. Managed by The Youth Justice Sports Fund (YJSF) Consortium, which brought together StreetGames, The Alliance of Sport in Criminal Justice, and was chaired by the Sport for Development Coalition, the consortium enabled the. investment of £5m supported 220 projects across England and Wales to use sport to enhance positive outcomes for vulnerable young people. The funding facilitated voluntary and community sports organisations to undertake targeted work supporting children and young people with a secondary level of need who are understood to be at risk of either entering the criminal justice system or being a victim of crime.

The aims of the programme were twofold:

Aim 1: Support vulnerable young people aged 10-17 at risk of involvement in crime, anti-social behaviour and serious violence through involvement in local sporting activities.

Aim 2: Build capacity and the capability of sport sector delivery organisations to work effectively with their local criminal justice partners, including Youth Justice Services, Police and Police Crime Commissioners (PCC)/Violence Reduction Unit (VRU) structures.

7,832 young people were involved in the programme, with a total of 68,741 attendances during the twelve-week period. An average of 36 young people engaged per organisation, although this varied between organisations. Of the young people engaged, 82% came from the most deprived communities within the bottom four IMD deciles. As the initial evaluation report clearly highlights, this programme demonstrated that a sport-plus approach offers more opportunities to undertake meaningful work with young people experiencing high levels of challenge in their lives and enabled staff to build a strong rapport with young people. It also enhances young people’s skills and knowledge and provides access to additional support.

This success was based on more than just sport; it relied on the extensive expertise of the organisations involved in coordinating the programme and the high levels of trust enjoyed by the local organisations delivering on the ground.

This experience ensured that some of the most influential characteristics of the fund were baked into delivery across the board. These included:

• Ability to flex the original project plans to respond quickly to any unforeseen challenges and adapt their delivery to continue to meet the overall aims of the programme.
• Autonomy to decide budget priorities to reach and engage the targeted young people in their projects.
• A high level of trust was placed in organisations to deliver what was needed in their communities whilst meeting the expectations placed on funded projects.
• The consistent and ongoing support offered to projects throughout the programme by the Consortium, including MEL support, enabled them to collect and report data that would previously have been impossible without a blend of financial support and guidance.
• Underpinning the programme with the shared Theory of Change and clear expectations of projects made clear from the outset.

The ability to provide this level of flexibility to respond to local leads and to support the provision of meaningful MEL data was a critical success factor for the programme. Projects that were supported through the YJSF were able to demonstrate, at the point of application, that they were able to meet clearly articulated expectations on MEL, as well as the ability to effectively implement the different aspects of the Theory of Change, to engage young people with a secondary level of need. As a result, the 220 projects who received funding were in a great position to succeed.

That flexibility to design projects that they felt would be best suited to the targeted young people and to adapt projects if needed in response to the reality of the context they faced proved hugely important and underscores exactly why LTOs are best placed to carry out this kind of work. Their natural agility, combined with the strong trust they already enjoy in local communities, means they can reach the young people that others find hard to reach and engage them on their own terms.

The tremendous success of the YJSF, and the incredible speed with which it was effectively rolled out and delivered, should be taken as demonstrable evidence of the power of sport, the effectiveness of trusted sporting organisations and the role that sport and physical activity can play in supporting vulnerable young people towards personal growth and development.

The Youth Justice Sport Fund was established to utilise sport as a powerful tool to engage at-risk young people, diverting them from crime and antisocial behaviour. Launched in December 2022, the programme allocated £5 million across 220 trusted community organisations nationwide. Now, the evaluation report has proved the programme a success, providing evidence that shows the programme effectively engaged at risk young people and helped to reduce crime and anti-social behaviour.

The fund managed by StreetGames, with support from the Alliance of Sport in Criminal Justice and the Sport for Development Coalition is the first of its kind delivered by the Ministry of Justice, and forms part of the government’s wider £300m investment into youth justice services over the next three years.

With the publication of the Youth Justice Sport Fund evaluation report, there are fresh calls for even greater use of innovative sports-based early intervention approaches for young people in a way that can help prevent the cycle of offending, minimise the long-term impact of criminal behaviour and support young people to find positive pathways. The report highlights that sport, when provided in a safe, supportive environment, gives young people a sense of belonging, and exposes them to a diverse array of positive role models.

The programme successfully engaged over 7,800 young people, with 82% of them coming from 40% most deprived areas, providing them with structured sports activities and additional personal development opportunities.

77 of the 220 participating organisations had an annual turnover of less than £100,000 and 63% of the hours delivered by participating organisations were dedicated to mentoring and other ‘sport plus’ activities that help delivery staff build a strong rapport with young people and accelerate their personal development.

The report goes on to make a number of recommendations including –

1. Learn from the successful delivery of the YJSF programme, particularly the Consortium approach and support provided by StreetGames, to effectively engage vulnerable youth in sport and sport-plus projects.
2. Base future investment decisions on principles of trust, collaboration, and high expectations, considering organisations’ ability to meet expectations, provide monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) data, and engage young people with secondary-level needs.
3. Recognise and involve young people in the programme by celebrating their participation and providing opportunities for their formal engagement in evaluation and decision-making processes for future programs.
4. Support project flexibility in designing and adapting initiatives to suit the specific needs of targeted young people while upholding the principles of the StreetGames Theory of Change.
5. Maintain and leverage regional and national networks established through the programme to facilitate effective sharing of best practices and ongoing relationships.

Alan Webster, Deputy Director for Youth Justice, Ministry of Justice said: “Prevention is the principal aim of the youth justice system, and we know the impact that physical activity can have in helping people make more positive choices in their lives. That’s why we created the Youth Justice Sport Fund, the first time Government has invested in sports as a diversionary route for children and young people at this scale and we are incredibly proud of the fund and its achievements. Almost 8,000 children have accessed activities that may not have been available to them, learning new skills and gaining qualifications along the way. We will continue to explore innovative ways sports can be used to support children at risk of being involved in crime and anti-social behaviour”.

Mark Lawrie, CEO of StreetGames said: “Through the Youth Justice Sport Fund, we have witnessed the powerful impact of investing in sport to support vulnerable young people, reducing their risk of involvement in crime and victimisation and helping them to develop a pro-social identity. It is crucial to intervene early and engage at-risk youth to prevent them entering a cycle of offending behaviour and to support them to make positive life choices. . The success of the programme was rooted in the collaborative efforts between national and local sport sector organisations and national and local criminal justice partners, emphasising the immense potential for future collaborations across sectors.”

Hitesh Patel, Executive Director of the Sport for Development Coalition, added: “The Sport for Development Coalition thanks the Ministry of Justice, StreetGames, the Alliance of Sport in Criminal Justice, and of course the 220 community-based organisations who united to deliver the Youth Justice Sport Fund so effectively across England and Wales.

This report provides powerful evidence of the value of investing in proven sports-based early intervention schemes. This can achieve a significant impact across multiple policy priorities for the Government, which in turn can help to save public costs in the long term – as demonstrated by the Coalition’s #OpenGoal framework.

Ahead of the publication of a new nationwide sports strategy, we encourage all arms of Government to collaborate with the Coalition and its partners to deliver effective early-intervention schemes that could help lighten the load on the public purse.”

James Mapstone, CEO of the Alliance of Sport in Criminal Justice said: “It was a pleasure to work alongside StreetGames, the Sport for Development Coalition and other partners and we are delighted that project has resulted in such positive outcomes for young people and the community sport organisations who support them.

The Alliance of Sport’s purpose is to build a better and safer society through the effective use of sport and physical activity, so we are delighted that this project has been able to strengthen the evidence base and advance the case for sport’s role in crime prevention.”

The British Olympic Association (BOA) has announced charity partnerships with StreetGames and YoungMinds, two of the country’s leading young people’s charities, focusing on physical activity in underserved communities and mental health and wellbeing respectively.

As part of the partnerships, and in line with the BOA’s and the British Olympic Foundation’s social impact strategies, the charities will be able to leverage the power of the Team GB brand and its athletes to support their objectives in tackling conditions that adversely affect young people’s mental and physical health and wellbeing, at home and in the community.

The BOA’s own research has identified that significant portions of the population feel that Team GB can legitimately talk about physical and mental health, and believe that Team GB athletes are positive role models in this regard.

The BOA will work with YoungMinds, the UK’s leading young people’s mental health charity, to support a much-needed shift in the conversation around mental health. Team GB’s athletes will be lending their voice to the fight for a world where all young people get the mental health support they need, when they need it, no matter what.

In working with StreetGames, Team GB will support the drive to tackle some of the most pressing issues faced by young people growing up in underserved communities, helping to make them healthier, safer and more successful.

British Olympic Association CEO, Andy Anson, OBE said: “We are very excited about our partnerships with StreetGames and YoungMinds and the impact these relationships can create.”

“Our athletes are part of a global movement who want to push for significant social change. We have also witnessed a much-welcomed shift from athletes in their openness to conversations around mental and physical health. We look forward to working with both charities to utilise the power of sport to create positive change for young people across the UK.”

Laura Bunt, Chief Executive of YoungMinds, said, “We are thrilled to announce our partnership with Team GB and to work with a range of inspiring athletes who are sharing their messages about mental health with young people.

“Young people today are growing up facing huge pressures following a global pandemic and emerging into a cost of living crisis. We know that hearing messages of support and hope from people who are under pressure to perform publicly can be really powerful. Working with Team GB will increase our reach and ensure that more young people are able to access advice about their mental health when they need it. It will also remind them that whatever they are doing and whatever they are going through, their mental health matters.”

John Cove, Chair of StreetGames, said: “Our partnership with Team GB empowers us to use the immensely positive power of Olympic sport and the incredible passion, skill and commitment of athletes to make a lasting impact on the lives of young people. Together, we can bridge the sporting inequality gap, deliver vibrant sports sessions, and share authentic stories that inspire and empower. Through this powerful collaboration, we are transforming lives and creating a future where every young person can thrive through sport and physical activity.”

The charities will partner with the BOA until the Milan-Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games.

The new partnerships will complement Team GB’s existing youth engagement programme Get Set. Originally created as the official education programme for London 2012, Team GB and ParalympicsGB’s Get Set offers a broad programme of free, cross-curricular resources and activities for schools and community groups, and has engaged with over 93% of UK schools since its launch.

Aiming to support all young people in fulfilling their potential and maintaining a healthy, active lifestyle, the programme helps pupils to embrace the Olympic values of friendship, excellence and respect and the Paralympic values of determination, inspiration, courage and equality.

At StreetGames, we are driven by our passion for creating an excellent, diverse local workforce that reflects the richness and diversity of the communities our LTOs serve. Our ultimate goal is to ensure that every young person living in a low-income, underserved neighbourhood has access to the right sporting opportunities, free from barriers and limitations.

The StreetGames Training Academy plays a crucial role in achieving this goal. We develop and deliver bespoke training programmes that equip coaches, volunteers, and sports development staff with the necessary skills, confidence, and knowledge to bring Doorstep Sport to every underserved community.

Our training empowers the workforce to initiate positive change by focusing on areas such as building relationships, adapting mainstream sports delivery, community safety, as well as mental and physical well-being.

What sets us apart is our dedication to making learning easy, practical, and interactive. This approach allows us to reach and engage individuals who may not have had previous access to training or positive learning experiences. StreetGames training has a higher percentage of candidates from ethnically diverse communities than most NGB training offers – “we take our training to the doorstep of these communities instead of just online, or at central venues that suit us – we are the people beside the people and it’s all about ‘Frontline First’.” – Mark Roughsedge, Workforce Lead, LSE.

By expanding their knowledge, skills, and behaviours, we broaden their opportunities and boost their confidence to pursue further training, volunteering roles, and employment with Locally Trusted Organisations who are committed to utilising the power of Doorstep Sport to transform lives and local communities.

Over the last year, the StreetGames London South East team have delivered over 70 courses to nearly 1000 candidates, with 66% of participants coming from ethnically diverse communities, showing that we are training people who traditionally face barriers to mainstream coaching qualifications. 58% of those accessing our training also come from LSEG groups 1-4, showing that we are reaching those people who face numerous other barriers to CPD opportunities in the sports sector.

Through these initiatives, we have supported LTOs to adhere to the 5 rights of Doorstep Sport (Right Place, Right Time, Right Price, Right Style, Right Leaders) to make sure the community sport offer is what children and young people want it to be so they keep returning to be healthier, safer and more successful in their own communities.

Leading our workforce development work in London is, Dan Dodge and Mark Roughsedge who are our Workforce Development Managers.

For more detailed information about our comprehensive training offer, or to arrange for StreetGames to come and deliver training at your venue for your team and partners, please visit The Training Academy section on the StreetGames website or email training.academy@streetgames.org

Written by Lucie Vickers, Head of Volunteering & Youth Voice

At StreetGames, we have always recognised that the benefits of sport and physical activity go far beyond the obvious boosts to mental and physical wellbeing. More than almost any other activity, sport has the ability to offer people new skills, new confidence, and an improved ability to work together as part of a team.

For many of the young people who take part in Doorstep Sport, one of the things they say made the biggest difference for them is the way that taking part in sport and physical activity has allowed them to break out of their shell and take on new roles and responsibilities, and this is especially true of our young volunteers.

StreetGames places great emphasis on social action and volunteering within its network of projects. The StreetGames Volunteer programme, which was established in 2007, offers volunteering opportunities for 16-25 year olds – helping them to make a positive difference in their local community.

A typical young volunteer will support and run local sport sessions, tournaments, assist at large-scale national sports tournaments, learn how to coach sport and design youth-led activities. By contributing in this way, they increase resources in their local community and provide more young people with the opportunity to participate in sport.  The programme also assists with developing their confidence, self-esteem and community leadership skills and they have the opportunity to gain recognised awards and qualifications.

A volunteer survey that was undertaken during 2015 with over 300 StreetGames Young Volunteers provided extremely useful feedback in relation to the value of the programme to the young volunteers and also its impact. The results showed clearly that the volunteers enjoy the time they spend volunteering, with – 97% stating that, when thinking about their last volunteering experience, they had enjoyed it (including 59% who stated that they had very much enjoyed it) – with respondents most commonly describing volunteering as: ‘fun’, ‘rewarding’, ‘helpful’ and ‘enjoyable’. But the benefits extend far beyond having fun, with volunteers highlighting the importance of benefits such as gaining leadership skills, additional qualifications, and benefiting from mentoring.

In recent years, StreetGames has been able to offer young volunteers the chance to develop even further through our annual residentials, camps or youth conferences. Last year at our Summer Camp, the Young Advisors took the lead on planning and delivering activities for the young people in attendance. For many of the Young Advisors, this was the first-time delivering activities to large groups of young people which some said they found daunting initially. However, by consistently putting themselves out of their comfort zone, the Young Advisors came away from camp with much improved confidence. The difference these experiences make to young people over a short time frame is quite extraordinary, with the overwhelming majority reporting that the 2-3 days they spend supporting peers at Summer Camp has a huge impact – ‘life changing’ in some instances.

Once engaged with StreetGames, young people can continue to be involved for years to come. Young Advisors are invited to be part of the alumni group and continue to be offered a variety of opportunities that SG are able to provide. The Head of Volunteering and regional staff remain in contact with those that wish to, on a regular basis. As a result of these relationships, StreetGames staff regularly provide references for young people embarking on their employability journey, and even provide signposting or application support. Some of our young volunteers have gone on to address audiences in the Houses of Parliament, lead sessions in online conferences, and even represented StreetGames at the Royal Garden Party.

Volunteering offers a fantastic pathway for young people in underserved communities to discover their passions, build their confidence and unleash their potential. At StreetGames, we’re committed to making sure as many young people as possible can benefit from those opportunities.

Written by Kate Turnbull, Young Advisor.

My journey with StreetGames started around three years ago, when I was supported into volunteering by my PE teacher at school and into a local organisation, Hat-Trick in Newcastle. I was later introduced to StreetGames by completing Activators and Level 1 qualifications in sports.

As I continued to volunteer as a sports coach, my confidence and ability to overcome challenges grew significantly over the years. This experience not only helped me regain the confidence I had lost during high school but also prepared me for future work environments.

In July and August of 2022, I was a Young Advisor for StreetGames’ Summer Camp in Birmingham for the Commonwealth Games, during which we even attended some of the games! At Summer Camp, along with a group of Young Advisors and StreetGames staff, we ran a camp in line with encouraging young people into sports and also providing an opportunity to experience camping. It was a fun time for me and helped me build up confidence, resilience and I met so many wonderful people along the way.

On the 9 May, I was invited to Buckingham Palace as the representative of all of the young people that had been positively impacted by StreetGames throughout the years. It was such a high honour to represent the many people who had been positively influenced by such a wonderful organisation.

My journey through StreetGames is a one that I will forever remember, making lifelong friends and developing my skills through sports.

Written by Mark Lawrie, CEO

On Wednesday 24 May, I had the pleasure of joining the APPG for Sport committee meeting, chaired by Kim Leadbeater MP, at the House of Commons where I joined colleagues from the sector to discuss the ever-growing evidence of sport’s impact on social outcomes across the UK.

In recent years, some of the delivery funding available to local sport for development organisations has undergone a transformation, thanks to innovative approaches and the recognition of the importance of connecting national policies with community-level, grassroots implementation. StreetGames, a systems partner to Sport England and a founding member of the Sport for Development Coalition, has been pioneering in this field for over 15 years. By working closely with locally trusted organisations (LTOs) in low-income, underserved communities, StreetGames has made a profound impact on the lives of hundreds of thousands of children and young people through sport.

Building Momentum

In our start-up phase back in 2007, StreetGames shared participant data and impactful stories of what works to engage young people from low-income families from 15 locally trusted organisations (LTOs) working in deprived areas. These early efforts laid the foundation for continued growth and success. Today, we collaborate with over 1,500 LTOs, and are the only national sports charity exclusively focused on increasing participation by children and young people from low-income, underserved communities. Throughout our journey to date, our commitment to learning and continuous development of our expertise, developed in close collaboration with LTOs, have allowed us to refine our Doorstep Sport approach and deliver against a range of social outcomes.

The power of sport to effect change is no longer based on hopeful anecdotes. There has been a significant shift towards the more sophisticated measurement of the impact on individuals and the identification of the critical ingredients that lead to success. StreetGames, alongside other organisations in the sport and sport for development sectors such as the Premier League Charitable Fund and Premier Rugby’s Hitz Programme, has played a leading role in this progress. The challenge that follows the distillation of what works in increasing participation by children and young people from low-income backgrounds is then how you replicate and sensitively apply that learning at scale, avoiding a ‘here’s one I made earlier’ approach to diverse local communities.

The Youth Justice Sports Fund

A major milestone for StreetGames was our involvement in a consortium of three national sport for development organisations. In just over six months, we collaborated with the Ministry of Justice to design and deliver a £5 million program known as the Youth Justice Sports Fund. The consortium, led by the Sport for Development Coalition and involving the Alliance of Sport in Criminal Justice, partnered with 220 local delivery organisations primarily serving underserved neighbourhoods. Through this initiative, nearly 8,000 vulnerable young people gained access to regular sports activities and tailored support, such as mentoring and training beyond their immediate surroundings.

Selecting 220 organizations from over 470 applications highlights the growing capability within the sector to deliver targeted interventions. However, challenges remain. Consistent and longer-term funding is crucial, as short-term allocations often strain the capacities of the most effective delivery organisations. Commissioning processes should put a greater focus on building the capacity of local delivery organisations, enabling a more consistent approach to leveraging sport for early intervention and prevention outcomes across criminal justice and other government departments.

Developing the Workforce and Demonstrating Impact

While sports organisations are not a cure-all, ongoing efforts within the sector aim to provide commissioners with confidence in the delivery of impactful programs. The Youth Justice Sports Fund’s emphasis on monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) serves as a replicable model. By providing appropriate support to delivery organisations, near-perfect returns of data and outcome measurements have been achieved, solidifying the evidence for the positive impact of sport.

The evolving understanding of sport’s potential, particularly in the context of sport for development, has paved the way for innovative approaches and partnerships. The Youth Justice Sports Fund is a shining example of sport aligning with government policies to drive positive change. Similar success stories can be found in areas like mental health, education, employability, and community cohesion. The Chiles, Webster, Batson Commission underlined the pivotal role of Local Trusted Organisations (LTOs) in deprived areas transforming lives through sport. By harnessing the power of sport, we can continue to make a profound difference in the lives of individuals and communities.

At StreetGames, we’re proud to be a member of the Children’s Coaching Collaborative (CCC), a grassroots movement championing child-first coaching.

According to Sport England’s Active Lives survey (2021-22), only 47% of children who regularly exercise strongly agree that they enjoy taking part in sport and physical activity – a figure that’s still down on pre-pandemic levels (51%) which were already low.

As members of the CCC, we share a passion to improve children’s experience in sport and physical activity by transforming coaching and putting the needs of the child first so they can play their own way.

We’re here to change the game.

Child-first coaching is an evidence-backed approach which is all about championing every child’s voice, choice and journey in sport and physical activity. This is underpinned by the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child: The Right to Play, The Right to Develop, and The Right to be Heard.

Be part of a community of coaches, organisations and people driving the biggest grassroots movement to transform the way we coach children and young people.