Camarilla Group is proud to announce its securing of £35,000 support from SEWSCAP (the South East & Mid Wales Collaborative Construction Framework) https://sewscap.co.uk/ and Cardiff Council’s Highways framework for its client, StreetGames. The funding will contribute to the delivery of two community-based initiatives, a great way to kick-start 2021!
£30,000 will be injected into StreetGames’ continued mental health training and awareness raising. Covid-19 continues to harshly impact lower-income areas, with children and young people in these communities finding themselves further isolated from their friends. They lack the ability to socialise; where they may have interacted with peers through recreational team sports and/or physical activities beforehand, these are not currently permitted.
Children and young people in such communities often do not have access to online devices to aid communications with friends, and such lengthy periods of isolation from others are having detrimental effects on their mental health and overall wellbeing. 80% of young people that take part in Doorstep Sport through StreetGames’ Locally Trusted Organisations (LTOs) said the part they like best is ‘socialising with friends’, and that is what they miss.
As a proud member of the Young People’s Health Partnership and a key provider of the Youth Mental Health First Aid course, this funding will also aid StreetGames’ pledge to train a further 3,000 sports coaches. Their report ‘Sport For Better Mental Health’ emphasises how sports coaches can play a central part in young people’s lives, not just as facilitators of sporting talent, but as trusted role models who can support emotional development and better mental health.
The remaining funding will be used to deliver Sports Activity Packs to families in disadvantaged communities. The SAPs are a vital resource that help encourage families to be ‘fit, fed and read!’. Distributed via LTOs, the packs are designed to promote physical activity using sports equipment, Family Activity Journals and training resources.
Importantly, the packs have been designed with sustainability at the forefront – they suit a range of spaces, abilities and ages and can be utilised both at home and in public spaces. They aid with the elimination of current barriers to physical activity participation, running alongside StreetGames’ #SportHelps campaign which strives to keep the public active through present periods of isolation. Looking to the future, the SAPs will develop an individual’s confidence and endeavour to shape physical activity as a lifelong and enjoyable habit.