Over the last six months, with funding provided by the London Mayor’s New Deal for Young People, LifeLine has partnered with StreetGames to deliver a capacity-building programme. The two-year programme aims to deliver support to 60 local organisations to develop and enhance their sports-based mentoring offered to children and young people across Barking and Dagenham, Havering and Redbridge.
StreetGames’ expertise is in using the power of sport to transform young lives and bring communities together, and we’re proud to be able to use that expertise to support LifeLine in their work providing much needed support to young people who might otherwise find themselves heading down the wrong path.
The core aims of the programme are:
- To enable more young people in need to benefit from high-quality mentoring and engaging youth activities
- To improve the overall quality of mentoring available to young people by increasing the capacity of the youth sector
- To increase strategic investment in London’s youth and mentoring activities
- To empower systemic change and sustainability within the youth sector
Previously mentoring was not available to all young people on a wider scale across London. Most of it was unofficial. This programme is about providing good quality mentoring to as many young people as possible. This will lead to a future where some of the most vulnerable young Londoners have received lots of support and in turn their life chances and opportunities have improved.
StreetGames has, over the last 6 months, delivered clinics to support local organisations to develop and design the programme. The co-designing element is to ensure that the programme remains relevant to local and cultural needs.
StreetGames has provided a tailored training academy to 16 organisations. The workshops are aimed at sharing knowledge, experience and advice with local leaders and coaches. The training will help local community organisations to increase their capacity and capability and support them to deliver an effective sport and mentoring provision.
In the new year, StreetGames will hold fundraising clinics to support organisational sustainability and management capacity. Following on from this, they will start delivering accredited training
Their Bespoke Mentor Training is underpinned by a trauma-informed approach:
- Managing challenging behaviour
- Adverse Child Experiences (ACE) and trauma-informed practice
- Community safety and the impact of sport on anti-social behaviour
- Ensuring young people have voice and agency
- Evidencing impact, tools, and techniques
- Recruiting and training to need
- Mentor matching
Some of the accredited training will include:
- Level 3 Award in Education & Training
- Level 1 Award in Developing Community Activities for Youth at Risk
- Level 1 Award in Health Improvement
- Level 2 Award for Youth Health Champions
- Two day course on Youth Mental Health First Aid
- Level 2 Certificate in Coaching Multi-Skills Development in Sport
- Level 3 Award in Emergency First Aid
- Level 2 Youth Work Certificate
- Certificate in Youth Work Practice
- Award in Youth Work Practice
The partnership with StreetGames will help us to develop and promote the Mentoring Confidence Framework. The MCF was co-designed by the GLA and the voluntary and community sector. It is a self-assessment tool to help organisations that provide mentoring for young people reflect and develop their practice. It can highlight areas of good practice and areas for growth, helping organisations of all sizes provide the best support they can.
A New Deal for Young People
The New Deal for Young People was created to ensure that 100,000 disadvantaged young Londoners have access to high quality mentoring opportunities, and that all young Londoners have access to quality local youth activities. The Recovery Programme’s aim is to radically improve the outlook and experiences for London’s young people, and to reach a consensus between boroughs, London Councils, the Greater London Authority, and other stakeholders to collectively call on Government action where needed.
