The Football Foundation handed over a cheque to James Mapstone, Regional lead for Active Communities Network South West at the Bristol Rovers game on Tuesday evening. This will fund a new project delivered by The Bristol Rovers Community Department whose coaches will be engaging young people through football across Bristol.

The aim is to reduce issues surrounding youth crime in key Bristol areas, by involving young people aged 14-21 in community football projects. The Community Department will be working in partnership with the 2nd Chance Project and the Active Communities Network to reach out to young people across Bristol to try and reduce the risk of young offending, and the fear of crime amongst the greater population.

Active Communities Network have been awarded just under £150,000 to set up the PACT project, which stands for Personal Attainment and Community Training. The cheque was presented to the club at the Memorial Stadium at half time during the Southampton match last week, and new Football League Chairman Greg Clarke helped the community department receive the money.

The project came about after a conversation between the Head of the Community Department, Peter Aitken, and James Mapstone at the 2nd Chance Project.

Peter said: “This project will involve very positive work in our local community. We will get to work with a lot of young people face to face, which will hopefully enable us to better understand their needs and frustrations. Hopefully we can give them the tools and the guidance to improve things in their own lives, and benefit their local communities by becoming role models for other young people in the area. We are hoping to encourage participation in sporting events and increase inclusion in grass roots sport. We look forward to working with these young people, hopefully we can teach them some skills to help them to improve their lives.”

The scheme will aim to address issues of youth crime, especially weapons related crime, using football to help create more inclusive communities.

Rovers’ community team will also be working with other crime prevention agencies to help reduce anti-social behaviour and improve school attendance and performance amongst the young people taking part. Chelsea and Crystal Palace both run successful PACT projects, and James Mapstone from Second Chance Project wanted to replicate the work of the London clubs here in Bristol.

James explained: “The London clubs have done some great work, and I wanted to see that happening in Bristol. We already have a relationship with Bristol Rovers, so they were ideal to help us carry this out. The young people who sign up for the PACT project will be able to access a range of different courses and projects, and football is an important brand to engage them and get them interested.
The project aims to be an alternative to hanging around the streets, giving the young people something to do and providing them with skills. The relationships and respect they develop for the football coaches allows us to interact better with them and work with them to reduce anti-social behaviour.”

The project will run alongside other Bristol Rovers schemes, including the Extra Time project, which provides regular sporting activity for older people and people with dementia. The Extra Time project, which is supported by Sport Relief and the Football Foundation, has been running successfully for several months, and supports the group in a range of physical, mental and social activities.

For more information visit www.2ndchanceproject.co.uk

Posted: 19.04.10 13:35