StreetGames wins Big Society Award for bringing sport to UK doorsteps
StreetGames is the latest winner of a Big Society Award for giving young people in disadvantaged areas sport and volunteering opportunities.
StreetGames was founded in 2007 and is a national partner of Sport England. The charity helps to change young people’s lives and communities by supporting a network of projects which give sport and volunteering opportunities to young people in disadvantaged areas.
Working with its dedicated team of volunteers and ambassadors including Olympic boxers Anthony Ogogo and Nicola Adams and former English international footballer Gareth Southgate, the StreetGames network encourages young people to adopt a sporting habit for life through its ‘doorstep sport’ approach of ‘right time, right place, right price and in the right style’.
To date, over 240,000 young people have participated in StreetGames projects, resulting in 2.4 million attendances. Additionally, over 6,800 young volunteers have been engaged delivering 167,000 hours of volunteering within the community and through its young volunteers programme StreetGames has awarded almost 6,000 qualifications. Collectively, this has helped to ensure that sport and exercise become part of the future fabric of the community.
In June 2013, StreetGames received a multi-million pound National Lottery investment from Sport England to bring sport to the doorstep of young people in deprived communities. By next summer, StreetGames and its network of partners will establish 307 Doorstep Sport Clubs which are set to transform the sporting and social landscape in disadvantaged communities.
Prime Minister David Cameron said:
I’m delighted to be recognising the fantastic achievements of StreetGames, which has been bringing sport to people’s doorsteps for 6 years.
StreetGames breaks down the barriers which prevent some from taking part in sport and demonstrates how sport can be a catalyst for social change.
Jane Ashworth, CEO of StreetGames said:
On behalf of the StreetGames network, it’s a real honour to be awarded a Big Society Award and to see the work of the network being recognised by the Prime Minister. Sport is fun and essential for a healthy lifestyle and we strongly believe it should be made available to everyone no matter where they live. That’s why we’re committed to bringing sport to young people in deprived communities and working with them to help ignite a hunger and passion for sport.
StreetGames youth volunteers are offered the chance to gain qualifications. In December 2012 the StreetGames volunteer programme was recognised by Her Majesty with a Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Award for Volunteering. The volunteers are positive role models for their community, attracting participants to sports sessions. The qualifications and confidence they gain encourages the next generation of young people to become volunteers. The local projects are increasingly self-sustaining as a result.
Notes to editors
Report: Building a participation legacy
The research project ran over a 2-year period, taking into account the experiences of 3,000 young people from neighbourhoods in Newham, Newcastle, Birmingham, Pendle and Newport. The report was released in March 2013.
StreetGames
StreetGames is an award-winning national sports charity launched in 2007. A national partner of Sport England and a national centre of expertise for developing sport in disadvantaged communities, the charity helps to make sport accessible to all young people, regardless of their income or social circumstances. It does this by supporting and establishing local projects around the UK that deliver doorstep sport, ie positive activities and sport provided to young people when they want it, where they want it and how they want it. Over 2.4 million attendances have already been generated by StreetGames projects.
StreetGames’ ongoing work to change sport, communities and lives has been recognised by The Chief Medical Officer’s Public Health Awards, The Charity Awards, The Business Charity Awards and Beyond Sport. Additionally, in 2011, StreetGames’ Chief Executive Jane Ashworth was awarded an OBE for services to community sport. These commendations demonstrate StreetGames’ effectiveness in sport and wider impact on crime, health and community development.
Images available upon request. For StreetGames media enquiries contact Capella PR on streetgames@capellapr.com or call 020 7924 5656.
The Big Society Awards
The Big Society Awards were set up by the Prime Minister in November 2010. The aim is to acknowledge individuals and organisations across the UK that demonstrates the Big Society in their work or activities. In so doing, the aim is also to galvanise others to follow.
The award focuses upon 3 specific areas:
Outstanding contribution to community
- people, projects and organisations that enable communities to drive change themselves
- projects and organisations that allow the community to identify solutions
- people, projects and organisations that inspire others to contribute to their community
Improving lives and society through innovation, collaboration and new partnerships
- people and organisations taking new approaches to public services
- successful collaboration and partnerships between public, private and voluntary sector - working together to benefit communities
Engaging in social action
- people, projects and organisations taking action in their community
- working together for social change (eg through creating groups, campaigns, movements)
- generosity of time, money, skills and other resources – in support of social action
Launching the awards, the Prime Minister said:
There are some amazing projects and remarkable voluntary work going on in towns and cities up and down the country, by all kinds of organisations from large enterprises to tiny grassroots schemes and inspirational individuals.
These awards are a chance to pay tribute to those making a valuable contribution to their community, the real champions of the Big Society, but perhaps more importantly, I hope they will motivate many others to take action, get involved and drive change in their area.
Nominations come in from the general public after which there follows a process of scoring and short-listing by civil servants and a further short-listing by a panel of ministers and independent external experts. This panel makes recommendations to the Prime Minister who makes the final decisions about who to make the award to. 12 winners are decided each quarter meeting and then announced once a week throughout the year.
Big Society Awards - inspired by 2012: keeping the Olympic flame burning across the UK
The Olympic and Paralympic Games last summer enthralled the nation and inspired over 70,000 people to volunteer their time and energy. Since then, people have engaged with their local sports clubs, tried a new sport, implemented community initiatives, ignited whole towns and villages to commit to keeping the spirit of 2012 alive.
To celebrate the anniversary of the 2012 Games, a number of awards will be announced for innovative groups, individuals and organisations whose work exemplifies the Big Society and whose Olympic-style achievements are making a real difference in communities.
Enquiries: Lucy Windmill 07795 445 197
Over 80 winners have been announced to date, including:
Community Action Through Sport Promoting, recognising and rewarding all young people for positive community action with sports based awards.
AFC Wimbledon AFC Wimbledon is a professional Football League Two club, which is currently celebrating its 10-year anniversary. The club is still owned by its supporters via the one-fan, one-vote Dons Trust. Since formation, the club’s officials, supporters and 300 volunteers have organised a number of community initiatives.
For a full list of winners visit the Big Society Awards website.