What we did
This programme was delivered between 2018 and 2021 in five cities: Bradford, Birmingham, London (Barking and Dagenham), Manchester, and Slough.
The project was led by the Youth Sport Trust in partnership with Sporting Equals and a consortium of organisations including: Street Games, Citizens UK, as well as cricket trusts and foundations, local authorities, and community organisations.
The project used cricket as a tool to:
- Improve social connectedness and attitudes to diversity
- Increase empowerment and community voice
- Increase community participation and sense of belonging
- Improve partnership working
- Improve wellbeing
- Improve knowledge and skills to support community cohesion.
The programme aimed to engage participants that either live, work or learn, or worship in designated target wards across each of the five cities. Using the legacy of England's incredible Men's (2019) and Women's (2017) World Cup victories, it brought together different ethnic and faith communities as one integrated community.
It placed communities and young people at the heart of the programme. Each year we trained, developed and empowered over 100 young people aged 14-25 and their community organisations as 'Community Champions', utilising inspirational motivational speakers, creative workshops and exciting volunteering opportunities.
The voice of young people was at the forefront of the project and they were provided with small activation grants for them to design, develop, and deliver community projects that socially mixed different people together through fun cricket activities, cricket matches, community festivals, street parties, social gatherings, cricket teas and much more!
Download the Breaking Boundaries prompt cards to build conversations and connections: Print Version or Mobile Version
Our Impact
You can read the final programme evaluation report here.
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