Breaking Boundaries aimed to socially connect young people, their families, and communities together through regular cricket and multi-sport themed engagement, fostering mutual respect and friendships by playing, spectating, and volunteering. 

Funded by Spirit of 2012, the programme was delivered from 2018 to 2022 and in 5 cities: Bradford, Birmingham, London (Barking and Dagenham), Manchester and Slough. Breaking Boundaries was led by the Youth Sport Trust in partnership with Sporting Equals and a consortium of organisations including Cricket Trusts and Foundations, Local Authorities, and Community Groups.

The final evaluation findings highlighted:

• Partnership working: A key strength of Breaking Boundaries’ were the links between organisations and community projects that were established.
• Knowledge and skills to support community cohesion: Breaking Boundaries helped individuals and organisations to develop new skills and a greater understanding of social cohesion. 
• Wellbeing: Regular participants reported that Breaking Boundaries helped to improve their confidence, socialisation, and mental health.
• Community participation and sense of belonging: Breaking Boundaries created new opportunities for community participation that brought different groups of people together in new ways.
• Empowerment and community voice: Breaking Boundaries has enabled delivery partners to focus on a range of local tensions (e.g. littering and anti-social behaviour) where residents have felt powerless to engage in the past.
• Social connectedness and attitudes to diversity: Joint participation in sport develops a shared group ethos so that participants gain a better understanding of each other and as a result, attitudes to diversity improve.

On the right-hand side, you can access the annual reports, plus the final evaluation report. You can also access a series of case studies.