As the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games approaches, a new legacy project has been announced to offer young people in the West Midlands new volunteering opportunities. The Games will help bring Birmingham and the West Midlands into the international sporting limelight.
A quarter of the £1 million National Lottery investment will create 1000 new opportunities for local young people to gain life skills from Games-related activities. This legacy project is one of many designed to improve outcomes for young people and will be led by the Gen22 project.
The National Lottery’s Community Fund will provide another £750,000 focused on helping young people facing social barriers to their engagement. Young people lacking confidence, who are in care, have parental responsibilities, or have a criminal record, will be invited to contribute 30,000 hours of social action towards the Games.
Sport England’s strategic lead, Jenny Betteridge, commented on the support for Gen22. Citing the five big issues identified in Sport England’s Uniting the Movement strategy, she added this type of initiative supports their main goals for the next ten years. She said:
“The legacy of life skills for young people – such as the confidence gained from volunteering to help their community to get active – is one of the most important parts of B2022.”
To find out more about the legacy project, see here.
