Youth Development Project with Hard-to-Reach Groups

Working in partnership to deliver a sports-based programme to increase activity levels for young people aged 12-18

ProjectPublishedPolicy Prototypes

Lead Member Preston City Council
Year 2021
Status Prototype
Report

Bid

Principles met

Co-production

We will develop systems that enable citizens to be equal partners in designing and commissioning public services and in determining the use of public resources.
Maximising social value

We will support the development of a framework and criteria for social value, giving substance to the concept and supporting Councils with the tools to ensure better local social and economic outcomes.
New models of meeting priority needs

In exploring new ways of meeting the priority needs of our communities we will encourage models, such as co-operatives and mutuals, which give greater influence and voice to staff and users. in designing and commissioning public services and in determining the use of public resources.
Social partnership

We will strengthen the co-operative partnership between citizens, communities, enterprises and Councils, based on a shared sense of responsibility for wellbeing and mutual benefit.

About the project

We will deliver the ‘Unlock’ project to provide young people with key life skills, including improved confidence and communication skills, through a targeted programme focused on physical fitness and on the achievement of wider personal goals, supported beyond the programme itself. The COVID19 lockdown has shown us that there are areas of deprivation throughout Preston and we are not currently reaching many of these areas. With the Unlock project, we will work in partnership with Preston United Youth Development Project to deliver a sports-based programme to increase activity levels for young people aged 12-18, once lockdown restrictions are lifted.

We will target young people most adversely affected by the current crisis, offering structured football, dodgeball and gym sessions on Friday and Saturday nights. The young people we will target will be those from Preston’s most deprived communities, including our BAME communities, and will include those who are disabled, offenders/or at risk of offending and who are out of school/at risk of exclusion. The project will build on our experience over ten years in delivering structured activity programmes for young people at evening and weekend sessions and across school/college holidays. While the main focus of these sessions will be on physical fitness, we take a more holistic view of the benefits.

Our experience tells us that physical fitness opens all sorts of doors and helps young people to make more positive contributions in education, work and socially. So at the start of the project, we will encourage participants to consider what they want to achieve through the programme, not just in terms of physical fitness, but also by addressing other issues of concern to them. We believe this will result in greater buy-in from the young people and better outcomes as a result of their participation.