UK SPORTS CHARITY CONTINUES TO CHANGE YOUNG LIVES UNDER A NEW NAME

For more than three decades, a UK based sports charity has been changing young lives through the power of sport. The charity originally using cricket with which to engage hard to reach young people now work through a wider range of sports and dance which has led to re-launching itself under the new name of ‘The Change Foundation’.

The Change Foundation, parent organisation to Dance4Change, winner of Best New Project in the Beyond Sport Awards 2014, supported by Comic Relief, believes passionately in giving a voice to the young people on its programmes and involving them in their design and development.  This helps raise confidence and self-esteem which leads to the growth of independence, a positive mindset, the development of life skills and greater employability of young people.

The charity first began life in 1981 by developing pioneering projects aimed at getting unemployed and directionless young people to train as cricket coaches. Over recent years the charity’s development team have successfully delivered similarly focused projects through a wider range of multi-sports and dance. Originally set up as The London Community Cricket Association, they then became Cricket for Change in 2008 and have now officially transformed into The Change Foundation.

The re-launch also marks the start of a yearlong social media campaign called #IAmChange where we will be celebrating and rewarding young people who have truly made a change for the better.

Andy Sellins, Chief Executive, said: “We’ve identified some of the hardest to reach young people in the UK and across the world. We’ve empowered and inspired them. We’ve provided them with education and employment. We’ve enabled them to innovate and create. We’ve engaged them through cricket and now we are engaging them through multiple sports and dance. And in 2015, we’re going to make an even bigger impact than we’ve had before, and we’re doing it under the banner of a new name, The Change Foundation”.

Join the conversation on Twitter using @ChangeFdn and #IAmChange or on facebook and share how you are changing young peoples’ lives – and don’t forget to ask your friends and colleagues to do the same.