Summertime for the Foundation means Street Elite festival season, when school children come along to local community spaces to celebrate the power of sport – whilst having fun.
We kicked off in Sutton, hosting the first festival at our Strategic Partner The Change Foundation’s headquarters. 200 local students tried a range of different sports, including for the very first time a pirate obstacle course, which proved incredibly popular!
All activities were delivered by graduates from the Street Elite programme, which uses sport and long-term mentoring to bring young people aged 16-25 back into education or employment.
Shakai and Harris, both graduates, comment:
“Street Elite is a reason to get out every week. It's a great chance to explore and meet new people outside of your comfort zone and start to build new opportunities.”
Both are now heading to Uni to study mechanical engineering.
We scaled down this year’s festivals at The Green Quarter and Birmingham Stadium - due to the extreme heat - but that didn’t stop us from celebrating the incredible achievements of our Street Elite graduates.’
We welcomed the Mayor of Ealing Cllr Faduma Mohamed to The Green Quarter festival. She shared with graduates her journey of arriving in Southall as a teenager, and encouraged them to believe in themselves – before taking part in a penalty shootout run by Southall FC, and a padel session with the graduates!
In Birmingham, graduates took part in a game of rounders, played football and were presented with certificates. Street Elite in Birmingham is delivered by TSA Projects, and Tanayah Sam, Managing Director, comments:
“I am incredibly proud of this Street Elite cohort. They’ve come together during the programme, supporting each other through any challenges and grown both individually and as a group.
It’s been fantastic to see the development across the cohort, and I’m looking forward to seeing what’s next for them.”
Thank you to the Berkeley teams who helped deliver the festivals across Sutton, The Green Quarter and Birmingham and making each event such a success!
Read more about Street Elite here.