LFC Foundation recognises power of young people as #iwill week launches
LFC Foundation recognises the power of young people as it launches its #iwill week of celebration activity.
The club’s official charity will celebrate #iwill week (November 18-24) with a range of youth social action events and activities in schools across the city.
The #iwill campaign aims to make participation in social action the norm for young people under 20, whether that be through volunteering, fundraising, mentoring or campaigning.
Supported by more than 1,000 organisations from across the UK, the #iwill campaign also connects and challenges these organisations to embed support for youth social action into their culture and practice.
As a partner of the #iwill campaign, LFC Foundation has generated a total project fund of £1.25million, which is funded 50 per cent by LFC Foundation and 50 per cent match funded by #iwill.
This investment will deliver a three-year project engaging more than 5,800 individual children and young people aged 10 to 14.
The project will work with 21 local schools (12 primary and nine secondary) in areas of high deprivation across Liverpool City Region, and local youth and community groups. Lessons and workshops are youth-led, peer-to-peer education and guided by LFC Foundation’s #iwill team, which consists of five members of staff.
The #iwill week is an opportunity to shout about the positive change young people are creating in their communities as volunteers, mentors, campaigners – and much more.
LFC Foundation will be actively involved in more than 30 activities with 13 local schools and 10 delivery partners and charities during #iwill week, supporting young people to take action on issues they care about, such as anti-knife crime, anti-racism and hate crime, homelessness, bullying, poverty, animal cruelty and much more.
Matt Parish, LFC Foundation director, said: “I am really proud that we are the only football club foundation leading an #iwill programme.
“We have made a significant investment in #iwill as we believe it is so important to empower youth social action and highlight and make an impact on some of the most hard-hitting issues that affect young people in society today.
“Our commitment to the #iwill campaign over the next three years will positively engage 4,000 children and young people across our city region, which is just fantastic, and I look forward to seeing the positive change this will bring.”
LFC Foundation’s #iwill programme was initially set up to work with pupils from Year 6 in primary schools, through to Year 9 pupils in secondary education. However, following a very successful pilot phase, LFC Foundation successfully obtained additional funding to enable pupils to now access the programme from Year 3.
The offer to local schools and community groups is a 12-week programme – one hour per week per class – with the focus on social action activity, which will take up more time outside of this hour.
The programmes aim to develop pupils’ understanding of the different forms of social action, developing character education and core skills, identifying and understanding issues within the community, society and the environment that affect children and young people, and identify the most appropriate ways to reduce them.