Tailored Mentoring & Employment Support for Disadvantaged Young People
The Pitch
Problem statement
Sport 4 Life UK provides tailored mentoring & employability services to disadvantaged young people in the West Midlands. English Indices of Deprivation 2019 data shows that 43% & 28% of Birmingham's and the West Midlands' respective populations live within the top 10% of deprived communities nationwide. Areas of lower socioeconomic status create multiple barriers to progression, including financial hardship & a lack of investment leading to absence of local facilities for support/development. These factors lead to poor mental health & lack of access to development opportunities. Youth Employment UK reported in 2022 that 28.5% of young people had ‘social, emotional and mental challenges'.
Solution
At Sport 4 Life, we use sport as a vehicle to engage young people by delivering free-to-access sports sessions in local, safe venues. This enables us to reach young people in a light-touch approach, building trust before encouraging them to engage more meaningfully in our core services of tailored mentoring & employability. Sport, delivered directly in communities of greatest need, gives us a continual flow of new beneficiaries into mentoring & employability services, meaning we can identify individuals who would most benefit from our support. Our employability services include accredited qualifications and training, personalised one-to-one mentoring & first-hand interaction with employers.
Why are we best placed to deliver?
Whilst the origin of Sport 4 Life as an organisation in 2006 was purely in the delivery of sports for young people in the West Midlands, we have progressed into a model whereby the overriding goal of our services is to improve life skills & employability. We are committed to delivering tangible outcomes to young people’s lives, using sport as the key tool of engagement to achieve these progressions. Evidencing our quality & suitability to deliver, see key statistics from S4L's impact on young people in 2022/23: 1,393 meaningfully supported 796 attended sports sessions 634 attended employability activities 249 gained an accredited qualification 74% significantly improved their life skills
Focus Areas
Delivery plan
Budget breakdown
| Mentor costs = £17 per hour x 500 hours of one-to-one mentoring delivery | £8,500 |
| Sports Leader UK accredited qualification costs = £40 per qualification x 20 young people | £800 |
| Functional Skills accredited qualification costs = £35 per qualification x 20 young people | £700 |
Beneficiaries
50 people
Who will benefit
Expected impact
- 50 young people to receive personalised one-to-one mentoring - 80% of young people to achieve an accredited qualification - 90% of young people to evidence a significant improvement in employability skills - 90% of young people to evidence a significant improvement in life skills
Track record
Case Study: Liza, 27 Recognising a needed to upskill herself due to the changing employment landscape as a result of the pandemic, Liza contacted Sport 4 Life and worked with her mentor, Don. Liza has been through many things in life, including major jaw surgery which left Liza feeling insecure & lacking confidence. Don supported Liza to pursue opportunities aligned to her interests, helping her boost her confidence & self-esteem during the application process. Amongst other activities, Liza attended employability workshops, learning how to improve her CV. With Don’s support, Liza completed a Level 2 course in Specific Education Needs, Behavioural Challenges, Autism and Mental Health course. She is now a qualified practitioner for autistic children). Today, Liza works as a Teacher Assistant at Myton School. “My mentor gave me guidance, and helped me prepare for the application process and gave me advice about pursuing the Teaching Assistant position I’ve been working towards!"