Over the past 10 weeks we have been offering and providing Community Football for the UASC, refugee and care experienced communities . Collaboration has been a big part of the success and we have been partnered up with The Freedom Youth Club to give the young people who attend an opportunity to play a sport they love. Many of the young men participating in the sessions are part of the UASC community and they love everything to do with football. The idea was to use sports as the vehicle for engagement and to introduce the group to employment and training opportunities as well as developing new skills linked to employment. Over the 10 weeks around 30 young men have taken part and two have successfully completed a sports leadership award with LCFC in the community and the Princes Trust.
Football allows me to be myself, I can train and be physically and mentally stronger
Participant
The plan is to continue the positive work into the autumn offering greater opportunities for the young people to develop skills that can be key to finding employment. The aim is to upskill some of our community groups and participants to run participant led employability sessions prior to the sports session. These sessions will focus on ensuring that each young person has the necessary support to create a CV and anything else related to employment!
I have been supported by Leicestershire Cares and the Freedom Youth Club for a while now and they have given me lots of opportunities to do things that make me happy
Muhammed Ibrahim (Participant/ Volunteer)
For more information please contact our Powering Up Project Development Manager
aidan@leicestershirecares.co.uk