We are proud to announce that our Chief Executive, Mark Lawrie, has been awarded an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2025 New Year Honours List. This prestigious recognition has been awarded for Mark’s outstanding services to education and to young people.

Mark has led StreetGames since 2021, driving our mission to harness the power of sport to create positive change for young people living in the UK’s most underserved communities. Under his leadership, we’ve expanded our reach and impact, working with over 1,600 community-based organisations to provide accessible, fun, and inclusive sports opportunities through initiatives like Doorstep Sport.

Mark’s career in education and sport spans more than 25 years, with roles in teaching, children’s services, and sports development. His expertise has shaped national policies and programmes designed to improve outcomes for young people, particularly those facing significant challenges. Beyond his work with StreetGames, Mark also serves as Chair of Trustees for the Personal Best Foundation, further cementing his commitment to supporting young people from all backgrounds.

On receiving news of his OBE, Mark said: “I am deeply honoured to receive this recognition. It reflects the hard work and passion of the entire team at StreetGames and the Personal Best Foundation, as well as the incredible community organisations we support. Our shared goal is to ensure that every young person has the opportunity to reach their potential, no matter their background.”

John Cove, StreetGames Chair, commented: “On behalf of the StreetGames Board, I congratulate Mark on his well-deserved Honour. It is fantastic to see Mark’s work validated in this public way as the commitment, innovation and efforts he makes above and beyond often goes unseen but are central to how he drives the organisation forward to make a real difference to children and young people’s lives up and down the country.”

We are delighted to announce that the Social Biobehavioural Research Group will be the new hosts of the Social Prescribing Youth Network (SPYN). 

 From 2018 to now…

 The Social Prescribing Youth Network (SPYN) was developed by StreetGames in 2018. Over the last six years, SPYN has gained more than 1,300 members and has had notable achievements including delivering resources and training.

This process has now concluded and we are pleased to announce that the Social Biobehavioural Research Group at University College London will be the new hosts of SPYN moving forward. UCL will bring a wealth of knowledge and experience to this network and are hoping to grow it further in order to support increased social prescribing for children and young people across the country.

Four key individuals will be involved in the day-to-day running of SPYN:

1. Dr Daniel Hayes, an expert in youth social prescribing who will head up the network.
2. Prof Daisy Fancourt who will provide expertise in running large networks, having led the £1.25 million UKRI MARCH network and 70-country COVID-Minds network.
3. Rachel Marshall who manages research communications and impact work for UCL SBB, and
4. Nikita Arslanovski who coordinates communications and finance for the team.

Dr Daniel Hayes commented:
“Children and young people’s mental and physical health has reached a crisis point. Despite this significant need for youth social prescribing, and growing momentum and interest, its potential is unrealised. Provision is patchy and pockets of good practice remain isolated, with a lack of awareness or joined up working from the policymakers, researchers, healthcare practitioners and community assets that are fundamental for social prescribing to succeed.

SPYN is a fantastic network that has the potential to drive work in this space forwards by mobilising stakeholders, providing training and networking opportunities, and sharing good practice. We are very excited to build on our existing knowledge and partnerships in this field and take SPYN to the next level in terms of impact. We hope you will join us on this journey!”

Stuart Felce, UK Director of Strategic Business Relationships at StreetGames, commented:
“The transition of the Social Prescribing Youth Network (SPYN) to the Social Biobehavioural Research Group marks an exciting new chapter in its development. At StreetGames, we are incredibly proud to have established SPYN and grown it into a thriving network of over 1,300 members since 2018.

This move ensures that SPYN receives the dedicated focus it deserves to further its vital work in supporting the health and wellbeing of children and young people through social prescribing. While the network will now be hosted by one of the leading national experts in the field, StreetGames remains deeply committed to advancing youth social prescribing, particularly through our focus on sport and physical activity.”

How to get involved with SPYN

The Social Biobehavioural Research Group team are currently busy planning and look forward to sharing further updates, opportunities and activities for SPYN members in the New Year.

New members can join the Network here to receive future updates about the expanding world of social prescribing for children and young people. Our newsletter will bring you the latest research, resources, events, training and more – all directly to your inbox.

Membership is free and open to all those interested in bringing social prescribing and its benefits to the younger generations. Whether you are a Link Worker, social prescribing coordinator, voluntary and community worker, commissioner, funder, health professional across primary or secondary care, or a researcher – join SPYN and be a part of the youth social prescribing movement in the UK and beyond.

If you have any SPYN-related queries you can get in touch with the team at: spyn@ucl.ac.uk.

The StreetGames Awards are back for 2024, shining a spotlight on the outstanding individuals and organisations using sport and physical activity to make a difference in our communities.

Nominations are open now, and we need your help once more in highlighting the transformational power of sport for development in communities across England and Wales.

Winners will be selected across eight categories, including a new category for 2024 celebrating your Youth Voice Champions.

Nominations will close on Sunday 15th December, after which our judging panel will draw up a shortlist of finalists and select the winners within each category. Winners will be announced early next year, and invited to a special celebration event to take place in March.

Mark Lawrie, StreetGames Chief Executive, said: “We are delighted to once again celebrate the fantastic achievements of our network and the transformative power of Doorstep Sport with this year’s StreetGames Sport for Development Awards. Please do get involved by nominating your local changemakers and helping us to honour their outstanding stories of impact and inspiration.”

The full list of categories for 2024 is:

• Coach/Volunteer of the Year
• Doorstep Sport Project of the Year
• #HolidaysMatter Award for Outstanding Holiday Activities Project
• Mental Health and Wellbeing Award
• Outstanding Work in Community Safety Award
• Us Girls Award for Engaging Women and Girls
• Young Volunteer of the Year
• Youth Voice Champion

Discover more about each of this year’s categories and submit your nominations.

StreetGames has announced the launch of its National Governing Bodies Offer, a support initiative designed to help NGBs of sport reach young people in low-income, underserved communities. This offer invites NGBs to join the StreetGames network, providing them with resources, connections, and expertise to engage more effectively with these young people and create lasting, positive change in their lives. 

StreetGames, an organisation dedicated to improving the lives of underserved young people through accessible sports and physical activity, aims to level the playing field for young people who face barriers to participation. By partnering with NGBs and the wider sports sector, StreetGames strives to create a sustainable shift in how mainstream sports providers interact with youth from underserved communities. The offer is part of this mission, providing NGBs with an evidence-based approach built on StreetGames’ 15 years of experience in Doorstep Sport. 

The Doorstep Sport model—at the heart of StreetGames’ approach—is designed to bring sports directly to young people in a way that resonates with them, promoting not just physical health but also resilience, social connections, and personal growth. By enabling NGBs to adopt Doorstep Sport principles, StreetGames seeks to build capacity within the sports sector to provide accessible, inclusive, and engaging sports programmes for young people in underserved communities. 

Why Join the StreetGames Network? 

Joining the StreetGames network connects NGBs with a community of like-minded partners, practical tools, and resources, while providing pathways for NGBs to develop their strategies for reaching underserved young people. The offer supports NGBs in creating opportunities that meet young people where they are, helping ensure that every child, regardless of background, has the chance to engage in meaningful physical activity. 

By supporting sports providers in adapting their practices, StreetGames hopes to address the pressing inequality in sports access and inspire sustainable change across the sector. For interested NGBs, more information can be found on the new Changing Sport – The StreetGames Approach with National Governing Bodies landing page. 

The British Citizen Youth Award celebrates the individual endeavours of young people from across the UK who are positively impacting their communities, helping charities or undertaking exceptional activities in support of others.

Now in its ninth year, this year’s Award honoured 21 young people dedicated to making a difference – including Emilie Violet Allen, aged 15, from South Wales.

Emilie is a gymnast and coach at Valleys Gymnastics Academy (VGA), an active member of the StreetGames network in Wales. For the past three years, Emilie has devoted her holidays to delivering StreetGames-funded Fit and Fed sessions at VGA, as well as coaching during evenings and weekends. She is also a passionate advocate for disability in sport, competing as a partially deaf athlete with the World Championship-winning Team Wales Adaptive Abilities team.

Alongside her coaching and a busy training schedule, Emilie also volunteers for Gwent Police Cadets and is a devoted Caregiver to her disabled Mum.

She now plans to put the skills that she has gained from StreetGames training and her community volunteering in practice on a trip to Ghana in summer 2025 to teach skills to young children in a remote orphanage.

Emilie is a true inspiration to aspiring young athletes of all abilities, nurturing their ambition and putting their mental health and wellbeing first. She shows her community that anything is possible with the right support around you.

On 17th October, Emilie received her British Citizen Youth Award Medal of Honour at the official presentation ceremony at Westminster Palace. Alongside her medal, she is now able to use the post-nominals BCyA in recognition of her fantastic achievements and commitment to others.

Claire Lane, StreetGames National Director for Wales, said: “On behalf of everyone at StreetGames, I’d like to congratulate Emilie and say how proud we are of her achievements. We’re so pleased that her passion and fantastic contributions to her community have been recognised in this way, and are excited to see her continue to go from strength to strength in her next steps.”

Hakuna Fruitata is a StreetGames-led project designed to provide practical, interactive and fun food workshops for young people to enjoy in a ‘no worries’, ‘no pressure’ environment.

Through our work supporting community organisations delivering holiday activities for children and young people, it has been clear that staff and providers are passionate and enthusiastic about supporting children to follow a healthy lifestyle. Feedback from young people also showed that they were keen to engage in more cooking and practical activities with food that they may not get the opportunity to do at home. However, a lack of resources and confidence to deliver educational food-related activities meant that many providers were unable to offer these activities.

We wanted to find a way to give children access to practical, interactive workshops and opportunities which broaden their experience of food, primarily fruit and vegetables, and to enable holiday club staff, young leaders and volunteers to have the confidence, ideas and skills to co-ordinate and deliver practical food-based activities.

The fundamentals of Hakuna Fruitata are:

• Have fun
• Be positive (in the language being used)
• Don’t be afraid to challenge existing thoughts and perceptions
• Be confident in having ‘healthy conversations’
• Health by Stealth approach

Case Study 1: Soup Making

As part of Hakuna Fruitata, young people got involved in making soup using tasty, fresh ingredients. The young people helped to prepare the vegetables, as well as deciding which ingredients and fresh herbs to include before putting it all into the pot to make a delicious soup for lunch!

Case Study 2: Exploring fruit and vegetables

To encourage young people to try new, healthy foods, more than 4,500 young people in Birmingham received a delivery of fresh produce to their holiday club through Hakuna Fruitata. The young people were then encouraged to explore the fruit using their five senses, including a bush tucker style blind taste test! The fruit and vegetables used were donated by Fareshare using surplus stock that would have otherwise gone to landfill, opening up the opportunity to also discuss the importance of managing food waste.

Case Study 3: Family Food Festivals

Family Food Festivals focussed on food education for all members of the family. Providers hosted cooking tutorials in which children and parents were encouraged to work together to create a nutritious meal which they then sat down to enjoy together. Each family were then given a food box containing enough food to feed a family of four for four meals to take home with them.

Pam Noel, StreetGames Food and Nutrition Lead, said: “It will take time before we see an impact on eating habits and behaviours of children, but this project provides additional opportunities to increase the frequency and repetition of expanding the breadth of taste palates of children, which we know has a direct correlation on positive eating habits.”

England Squash has announced a new partnership with StreetGames on an initiative that will create more squash opportunities for young people in some of the most underserved communities in Birmingham. 

The pilot project will see 14 community organisations deliver squash activation sessions to hundreds of children aged 4-16 who are eligible for free school meals as part of the Birmingham Holiday Activity and Food programme this Easter.  

Participating organisations will be given free training and squash equipment including a squash rebound net, rackets and balls as well as tickets to the prestigious British Open.  

Following the Easter programme, further support will be provided to help these organisations run regular and sustainable squash activities, and link young people into existing local squash facilities. 

Asma Ajaz-Ali, Community Engagement Manager at England Squash said: “We’re thrilled to team up with StreetGames on this fantastic new initiative to make squash more accessible for young and diverse audiences in Birmingham.  

“Sport has the power to make a real impact on communities and enrich lives, and this squash programme will provide an enjoyable way for young people to learn new skills, get active and improve wellbeing. 

“Squash offers something new and different to young people, best of all, you don’t need a squash court or sports facility but just ample space to knock a ball around.” 

Jenny Carter, Holiday Gap Director at StreetGames said: “We know from our 1,000 Young Voices research that there’s a strong appetite among children and young people for building more sport and physical activity into their lives. However, cost is a key barrier to taking part, with a third feeling that the cost of living crisis has negatively affected participation. 

“We’re excited to be partnering with England Squash to provide new opportunities to children and young people that will enable them to lead happier, healthier, and more successful lives.” 

To find out more about how England Squash is enhancing the diversity of the sport visit englandsquash.com https://www.englandsquash.com/inclusion-and-diversity 

A new academic review of Birmingham’s Holiday Activities and Food summer programme found it is ‘highly regarded by leaders in delivery organisations and by parents’ and has continued to deliver clear positive benefits for children and young people across the city, but restricting access to those eligible for free school meals is limiting its full potential. The programme’s success has led to renewed calls for eligibility to be widened so more young people can take part.

The programme was co-delivered by StreetGames on behalf of Birmingham City Council alongside trusted, local organisations (e.g. schools, community organisations etc.) and delivered a range of activities across the six-week school summer holiday. In total, the programme reached 26,101 young people and delivered 162,556 attendances, serving up meals to children and young people across the city as well as providing a wide range of fun, physical activities. These accomplishments were delivered by a citywide network of 277 holiday clubs operating in the heart of local neighbourhoods and staffed by fantastic local coaches and volunteers.

Now new research from Northumbria University has confirmed that the Social Return on Investment for health improvements associated with the Bring It On Brum programme has been calculated at £479.28 per child, while for every child deterred from participating in antisocial behaviour and associated crime, there is an approximate investment return of £928.40. 74% of parents thought that enrolment in the programme did help to keep children from participating in anti-social activity. The study concluded that the programme ‘created opportunity for learning and development, decreased stress and financial burden for families and individuals, as well as have a profound lasting economic impact’.

A large-scale survey was sent to all parents and carers of children attending Bring it on Brum during the summer holidays and also to those running the holiday clubs. Analysis of the results shows that Bring it on Brum delivered a range of positive outcomes, with families whose children attended a Bring it on Brum holiday club saying the holiday programme had a positive effect at preventing social isolation, raising aspirations, and boosting confidence. There was a significant increase in the number of parents reporting that they were more confident in leaving their children with staff this year (81% in 2002 versus 75% in 2021), suggesting that confidence in the programme continues to grow with time. Parent’s perceptions of the food on offer at clubs has also improved overall.

Parents also reported an increased squeeze in their cost of living, with both parents of Bring it on Brum participants and parents of children who had not attended the holiday clubs saying that household food insecurity had increased. The findings are likely to increase calls for the eligibility criteria for HAF programmes to be extended beyond those families on Free School Meals.

Mark Lawrie, Chief Executive of StreetGames, said:

“We’re thrilled that Bring it on Brum continues to go from strength to strength, and proud to be working in partnership with Birmingham City Council to ensure some of the most vulnerable young people in the city are having the chance to get active in a safe, fun environment during the school holidays. At StreetGames we know the difference that well-delivered sport and physical activity can make to the lives of young people, helping them to be healthier, safer and more successful.

This report shows confidence in the programme continues to be strong amongst parents and carers. Sadly, it also found that families across the board are really struggling with the cost of living and many young people in Birmingham and beyond are not getting the support they need because of HAFs narrow eligibility.

The evidence is clear that when delivered in the right way, HAF can make a real difference to young lives. It would be great to see the programme expanded to provide even more families with vital support outside of term time.”

Prof Greta Defeyter of Northumbria University, who conducted the research, said:

“Our research continues to show that children’s and young people’s attendance at ‘Bring it on Brum’ had a positive impact on the lives of the children, their parents and carers. The Healthy Living Lab at Northumbria University collected data from more than 1000 parents and carers and found that children were more physically active, parents were less stressed, and families were more food secure compared to families whose children did not attend a HAF funded holiday club.”

Additional Comments:

“I think this programme is fantastic for the children, all the different activities and healthy food provided. Every child having a smile on their face and looking forward to the next day.” Parent/ Guardian of Participant

“I think this programme is a very good opportunity for the young generation to keep active and healthy.” Club Leader