The Sport for Development Coalition is well-placed to support the aims of the Government's Levelling Up White Paper. Here Helen Rowbotham, CEO of Access Sport, explains how her organisation will contribute:
"Access Sport’s vision is that no-one should be excluded from the transformational benefits of community sport. To achieve this, we tackle the access barriers faced by disadvantaged and disabled young people.
"We do this by training, equipping and supporting community sports clubs, organisations and volunteers to provide inclusive programmes, unleashing their potential to transform the lives of underserved young people in their local communities.
"This work has a direct impact on the physical and mental health and wellbeing of the young people we support, directly contributing to Mission 8 of the Levelling Up White Paper. Equally important is its impact on young people’s sense of belonging and community engagement which are at the heart of Mission 9.
"Our programmes are tried and tested and, having turned our learnings into toolkits and models that can be replicated across different sports, towns and cities, we now advocate for and support their adoption across the sports sector to achieve sustainable, systemic change. With the backing of our supporters we want and need to do more and will soon be launching an ambitious growth strategy aimed at levelling up access to sport for more young people. Government investment in community sport is central to this mission."
Read more at accesssport.org.uk
