- Date: 25/05/2023
Concrete creates opportunities for young people to stay active in Stoke-on-Trent
Young people being supported by homelessness charity Concrete, are being encouraged to stay active this month thanks to support from two sports and wellbeing organisations.
Concrete's Young Persons Service supports young people, care leavers and unaccompanied asylum-seeking children who are impacted by homelessness. They provide them with a safe place to stay in their Hartshill supported accommodation and community flats across the city, alongside lots of tailored support too.
The Young Persons Service team walk alongside young people, supporting and guiding them towards a new chapter and a concrete future.
This year the service successfully secured funding from Sport England, an organisation that invests in sport and exercise opportunities within communities, to improve people's health and wellbeing.
The funding has made it possible for Concrete's Young Persons Service to obtain sports equipment, such as basketball nets, basketballs, table tennis, table football, outdoor gym equipment and an outdoor storage facility to keep the equipment safe.
The Young Persons Service has also worked alongside Together Active, who also managed to secure further funding from Sport England. This has enabled them to provide all the young people that they support with free gym memberships, including sports clothing and training.
For the funders, they will be completing two questionnaires - one at the beginning and one at the end of the programme - to measure the benefit the young people feel from an active lifestyle.
Concrete hopes that this support will give young people the opportunity to develop healthier lifestyles and coping skills, alongside improved physical, mental and emotional wellbeing.
Operations Manager Anna Mather said: “We’re thrilled to have received such incredible support from Sport England and Together Active.
“The equipment and gym memberships will help our young people find meaningful ways of spending their time. It will also bring them together and help them stay active, which we know helps improve overall wellbeing. We’re excited to see the impact that this has on them.
“To go alongside the physical activity, we are always looking for food donations so that we can make sure that our young people are having well balanced diets. This will help them to be active and feel the benefit of living a healthy lifestyle.
“As always, we have to say a huge thank you to the organisations for their support. It means so much to our young people and really does have a huge impact on their lives.”