Change Lives Through Soccer

At Street League, we change lives through football. We do this by engaging disadvantaged and vulnerable young people in a structured education and employability programme, and by using football as the hook. We support individuals who face a number of complex barriers which would otherwise prevent them from progressing in education and into training and employment, such as substance abuse, homelessness, offending and gang involvement.

Street League continues to go from strength to strength, supporting more disadvantaged young people than ever before and growing our income from a wide variety of public, corporate and donor sources. Between April and December 2012 we had supported 526 young people into sustainable employment and education outcomes, which means we are close to achieving our national target of 604 for April 2012-March 2013.

During 2012 we opened our fifth city, Edinburgh, and are preparing to open in Liverpool and Nottingham as we expand to 33 locations across 12 cities by the end of 2014, meaning we will be helping over 2000 young people into employment and education each year.

In 2012 Street League won the Beyond Sport Proctor & Gamble UK Impact Award, in association with The Daily Telegraph. http://www.beyondsport.org/the-awards/awards2012/entries/view.php?Id=1904

Case Study:

Alan was recruited onto Street League’s north-east London Academy in October through the Job Centre. Although
he had a range of previous work experience he had been unemployed for some time and was struggling to find work. From day one Alan came across as one of the more mature and focussed participants. He developed excellent rapport with other participants despite not being part of the group and demonstrated a quiet confidence and
unassuming leadership.

However, after two weeks on the Academy Alan’s Dad was rushed to hospital with heart problems and was in intensive care for a week. Alan kept in touch with the Street League staff, updating them on a daily basis and even came along to the 11-a-side match (in between being at the hospital with his Dad) to support his Academy. After two weeks of caring for his Dad, who had returned home with improved health, Alan returned to the Academy and settled straight back into the team. He made a real effort and caught up on all the work he had missed. He also became very proactive looking for jobs and on the day after his mock interview he had a real interview and got a full-time job working at Selfridges for Christmas. In January 2013 he was confirmed as a permanent employee. (Photo of Alan is attached).

A big thank you to all our supporters!!

We are only able to deliver our street soccer and Academy programmes and achieve our outcomes for young people with the on-going and valuable support provided by our supporters . Without your support we would be unable to continue to deliver our activities and engage, support and progress as many young people in education, training and employment as we aim to.

Street League would like to offer huge thanks to all our supporters who have donated to us during the past twelve months and helped us achieve our mission to ‘change lives through football’.

If you would like more details or have any specific questions regarding our programmes and work with disadvantaged young people across the UK please get in touch.

Links:

• Liverpool soccer player Daniel Sturridge visits Street League
• Website link

• Case Study - Alan (DOC)

Street League have continued to increase its "payment by outcome" contracts across the UK with colleges, job centres and Local Authorities. This now represents 45% of our total income and is more sustainable than grant and trust income, placing us in a more stable position going forward. It is also further proof that our work is proving to be strategically relevant across the deprived communities of the UK.

We have now achieved 209 sustained employment and education outcomes since April towards our national target of 604. These are all individuals who previously had very complex barriers to entering learning or work.

Individual case study highlights:

CW, first engaged with Street League approx. 6 months ago when attending Street Football sessions.  His attendance was very sporadic and it turned out he had quite a few issues at home and led quite a chaotic lifestyle.  We hadn’t heard from him in a while then he was referred onto our Academy Programme through the Connexions services.  It turns out he had cut all ties with his parents due to on-going issues and is couch surfing with friends. Since coming onto the Academy his attendance as been excellent and he has really focused his efforts on making positive choices in his life. After a visit from the Colleges Careers advisor, CW successfully enrolled on a BTEC Level 2 Diploma in Business and is due to start in September.  It covers business, finance, accounting, marketing and human resources. 

AK, who got involved in last years riots in spite of receiving  excellent A-Level results, ended up unemployed and disillusioned with society whilst awaiting trial. After joining the South East London Academy in July, he decided to apply to university and was accepted by Royal Holloway, one of the top 20 universities in the Country. He will start in September.

Other highlights:

We launched our "Graduate cup" in London in June to celebrate participant outcome achievements. Those who have completed our training course with 3 qualifications or have gone onto achieve an employment or education outcome are invited back to a one day celebratory tournament. we invite our funding and strategic partners to these quarterly events to demonstrate our impact.

Our CEO, Matt Stevenson-Dodd has been shortlisted in the "Rising CEO star" category for the UK Charity Times Awards. We have also been shortlisted for the "Cross-Sector Partnership of the Year" due to our partnership work with Downing Street in 2011!

We have now officially launched in Edinburgh, Scotland with an Operations Manager, Coach and Progressions Coordinator in post. We are now present in five regions of the UK and will extend this reach to 12 by 2014!

We reached our target of progressing 500 young disadvantaged individuals across the UK into work or long term education by March 2012. These individuals were all at risk of becomming entrenched as unemployed and dependant. They have developed the skills and confidence to successfully sustain their chosen outcomes.

Our target for 2012/13 is 604 individuals!

In the last three months we have capacity built through employing a new "National Development Director", "Communications Manager" and commenced recruitment for a "Contracts Administrator". All posts will be contributing to our plans for rapid expansion of our service to reach more disadvantaged young people.  

Former Professional boxer Lennox Lewis and Scottish international footballer, turned TV presenter, Alan Hansen, visited our education and training Academy in May as part of our partnership with Laureus Good for sport Foundation. This was incredibly inspiring for our participants!

Links:

• link to Alan Hansen/Lennox Lewis visit

Another positive three months for Street League!

Firstly, on 16th January we attended a reception at No.10 Downing Street to celebrate the 12 months charity of the year partnership. Some of our participants, who have gone on to achieve employment outcomes, attended alongside executive representatives of their employers. Each had an opportunity to discuss the progress made with the Prime Minister David Cameron. This was a fitting celebration of the achievements of Street League's service model and the dedicated efforts and commitment of our participants. Also in attendance was ex-England and West Ham United legend Sir Trevor Brooking and world famous Arsenal and Dutch international Robin Van Persie.  The latter was introduced as Street League's new ambassador!

We are currently looking to launch a new centre in some of the most deprived wards of Edinburgh, Scotland and are  currently locating a suitable office venue.

Our service in Manchester has quickly become established and we have now commenced our first Education and Training "Academy", progressing our first participants from that region into employment or college education.

Since April 2011 we have delivered 364 employment outcomes nationwide and look to achieve 500 by the end of March. Our work with young people helps prevent them from becoming entrenched in an ongoing situation of unemployment, providing training and education opportunities and creating positive alternatives to current life styles. With your help we can reach more people and change their lives!

Street League have now officially launched in Manchester! We have recruited a manager who is putting the partnerships in place to ensure we reach even more of the most disadvantaged individuals within the poorest districts and change their lives through football.

We are also awaiting the results of three funding applications that could take us into 5 new areas of the UK. Funding for each young person we reach is essential as it has the opportunity to progress young people from the point of physical, employment and educational inactivity,due to their multiple disadvantage, through our holistic programme into a sustained outcome.  

A recent quote from one of our participants; "Before I got involved in Street League I had no plan for my life. Street League has made me realise what I really want to do in my life and has given me a platform to make my dreams a reality"

Look out for us on Saturday 12th November as the England vs Spain friendly international will officially be a "Street League international! This has been provided as part of our Charity of the Year status with the Football Association. 40 of our young participants have been invited as guests. These individuals would not usually have the opportunity to attend such events.