My initiative is designed for and delivered in London
Yes
I am 18 years of age or above, by the application deadline.
Yes
My organisation is a registered legal entity
Yes
My organisation is a non-profit (e.g. school, university, or local authority) — not a for-profit, which can only join as a partner.
Yes
If there is a for-profit organisation as a partner in my initiative, they work on a cost-recovery basis only.
Yes
My solution is implemented at scale, or if not, I have a clear business plan, a minimum viable solution (prototype, pilot, or proof of concept), evidence of access to a lease for the space you are leveraging, and evidence of work or impact in London within your coalition.
Yes
I am aware that, if I am submitting more than one application to a Challenge run by Ashoka and Go! London, only one of them is able to progress through the stages.
Yes
Are you an employee (and their children and grandchildren) of Ashoka or any of its respective affiliates and participating advertising and promotion agencies?
No
I have read and accepted the Challenge Terms & Conditions.
Yes
First Name
TUNMISHE
Last Name
IBIDUN
Pronouns
She/Her
Email address
I would like to receive notifications and updates about Go London!, Ashoka, Ashoka Changemakers, and other Ashoka opportunities.
1
Are you an Ashoka Fellow?
No
Are you applying from an organization founded by an Ashoka Fellow?
No
If you are applying from an organization founded by an Ashoka Fellow, please specify the name and organisation of the fellow below.
8185
Lead Organisation Name
RICHARD RIAKPORHE FOUNDATION CIC
Year that you started/ registered your organisation
2022
Initiative Title
The Midnight Train: Step Up Programme
My initiative is designed for and delivered in London
1
Website URL(s) or Social Media Handles
https://www.riakporhefoundation.org/
Initiative Stage
Pilot-Stage (The first activities have happened, and you have proof of concept)
Sectors/Themes: What topic does your project most directly relate to?
Children & Youth
Initiative Summary: Describe your initiative in one sentence
As part of our innovative approach, this program aims to create a meaningful connection between community sports and public health systems, particularly through NHS social prescribing. We’re focused on bringing everyday spaces to life for sports and play, while introducing a trauma-informed boxing or kickboxing mentoring programme, which can be accessed through referrals from health and wellbeing professionals. This initiative redefines community spaces as not just places for physical activity, but as welcoming environments that support mental health, emotional balance, and stability for young people. By aligning our efforts with the priorities of NHS social prescribing and other commissioning pathways, we're exploring a scalable model that blends sports, youth support, and preventative health, all to break down barriers to care and reinforce local referral networks.
The Problem: What problem are you helping to solve and who will benefit the most from your solution? How close are you to the problem and/or community impacted?
Many young people in Lambeth and Southwark struggle to find safe and welcoming places to enjoy sports and play. In recent years, youth services have seen a reduction, while issues like poor mental health, feelings of disconnect, and social isolation have become more common. Traditional sports environments can often seem unfriendly or difficult to reach, particularly for those who have experienced care, are neurodivergent, or come from marginalised backgrounds, which limits their participation and deepens existing inequalities. Moreover, public health and youth support systems are under increasing strain. We urgently need preventative and non-clinical approaches that encourage well-being, emotional management, and routine. However, there are several ways to connect young people from health, education, or community services with trustworthy physical activities that cater to their specific needs. This issue is essential because when sports and play are provided in supportive settings, they can significantly boost well-being, confidence, and social connections. Without access to suitable spaces and reliable adult support, many young people miss out on these vital benefits during key stages of their development. The Richard Riakporhe Foundation is actively involved in the communities it serves, offering youth-centred sports and mentoring programs shaped by real experiences and local input. By transformingtransforming everyday spaces into inviting spots for sports, play, and well-being, the initiative aims to break down barriers to participation. This program also aims to establish stronger connections between community resources and public health support, fostering lasting pathways that empower young people to thrive.
Your approach: How are you/ will you addressing the problem outlined above? How does your solution unlock or reimagine access to spaces for sport and physical activity? What role do landowners, local authorities, or other decision-making stakeholders play in your approach? We'd love to know about the origin of your idea, and what was your "aha" moment" that led you to take action?
The Midnight Train: Step Up Programme addresses barriers to sport and play by transforming everyday and institutional spaces into places that support physical activity and wellbeing. Rather than relying on traditional sports facilities, the programme operates within Pupil Referral Units, alternative education settings, and underused community spaces across Lambeth and Southwark. These familiar environments are reimagined as safe and welcoming places for regular activity, helping to reduce barriers linked to access, trust, and safety. The programme is rooted in flexibility, partnership, and shared ownership. By working with local authorities, education providers, landowners, and community organisations, it unlocks spaces that are often restricted or overlooked. Pupil Referral Units provide trusted and consistent settings where young people already feel recognised and supported, while partners enable safeguarding, access, and sustainability. This collaborative model addresses structural barriers, such as cost, limited availability, and exclusion from mainstream provision, ensuring that delivery remains responsive to the local context and community needs. Alongside this, the programme integrates trauma-informed sport, mentoring, and life-skills learning, with activities shaped around the lived experiences of young people. This approach is particularly important for care-experienced, neurodivergent, and marginalised young people who are often excluded from conventional spaces for sport and play. By recognising that meaningful access depends on how and where activity is delivered, the programme demonstrates how reimagining trusted spaces can unlock participation, support wellbeing, and encourage sustained engagement.
Collaboration with young people and the community: In what ways does your initiative engage young people and community members closest to the problem? What role do they play in building the solution you deliver?
The Midnight Train: Step Up Programme is built in close collaboration with the young people and communities it serves. Young people are not seen only as participants, but as active contributors who help shape how and where the programme is delivered. The initiative has been informed by ongoing engagement with young people in Pupil Referral Units, alternative education settings, and community spaces, where they have highlighted the importance of familiarity, trust, and choice in accessing sport and play. Young people influence the programme in practical ways, including the choice of activities, session structure, and delivery times. Their feedback has shaped the use of non-traditional spaces, ensuring activities take place in environments where they already feel safe and supported. This approach is particularly important for care-experienced, neurodivergent, and marginalised young people, whose voices are often missing from decisions about sport provision. Community members play a central role in the delivery and sustainability of these initiatives. Coaches and mentors are recruited from local communities and bring lived experience that reflects the realities young people face, helping to build trust and create relatable role models. Education settings and community partners support access to space, safeguarding, and coordination. Young people continue to shape the programme through regular check-ins and informal feedback, ensuring it remains relevant, responsive, and grounded in lived experience.
Potential for/Evidence of Impact: How do you imagine your initiative will make a difference in unlocking spaces for and access to physical activity and sport so far? If you have already implemented it, what difference have you made so far? What is the impact your initiative has had , and or what impact do you envision having in the future?
As part of our innovative approach, the programme creates a clear pathway between community-based sport and public health systems, particularly through NHS social prescribing. Building on delivery within Pupil Referral Units, alternative education settings, and trusted community spaces, the programme brings everyday environments to life for sport and play while piloting a trauma-informed boxing and mentoring offer. This provision can be accessed through referrals from health, education, and wellbeing professionals, ensuring young people facing exclusion or multiple barriers are connected to consistent, non-clinical support. This approach redefines community and education spaces not only as places for physical activity, but as supportive environments that promote mental wellbeing, emotional regulation, and stability. By aligning delivery with NHS social prescribing priorities and wider commissioning pathways, the programme tests a scalable model that integrates sport, youth support, and preventative health. In doing so, it strengthens local referral networks, reduces barriers to care, and embeds physical activity as an early-intervention tool within existing systems. Over time, this model supports sustainable, place-based change by ensuring access to sport and play is embedded within education and health infrastructures, rather than delivered as a standalone intervention.
Innovation: What is different about your initiative compared to other solutions that are already out there? How is your approach original and innovative?
The Midnight Train Step Up Programme is truly unique, not just for the activities it offers but for the thoughtful way it connects with young people. Rather than sticking to traditional sports facilities and expecting young people to fit into rigid systems, the programme meets them where they are. It takes place in familiar surroundings such as Pupil Referral Units, alternative education settings, and community spaces that already play a pivotal role in young people’s lives. This approach breaks down barriers related to access and trust, making participation more achievable. What is especially distinctive is how the initiative links sport to wider support systems. By connecting community sport activities with NHS social prescribing and education referrals, the programme positions physical activity as a core part of overall wellbeing, rather than a standalone or recreational offer. It challenges existing norms by embedding sport within health and education contexts, creating new pathways for young people who may feel excluded from traditional systems. The programme’s innovation is also reflected in how partnerships are built. Local authorities, education providers, landowners, and community organisations work together to unlock underused spaces, share responsibility, and embed safeguarding and sustainability from the outset. By integrating trauma-informed sport, mentoring, and life skills learning into a single approach, The Midnight Train creates supportive environments shaped by lived experience rather than a one size fits all model. In doing so, it is changing how sport and play are experienced locally and offering a model that can be adapted elsewhere to support long-term wellbeing and opportunity for young people.
Viability and Scalability: How are you setting your initiative up for success, and what is your plan to ensure operational sustainability of your solution and its impact? What are your ideas for scaling your initiative to the next level?
The Midnight Train Step Up Programme has been designed with long term viability in mind and shaped around the realities of the communities it serves. By delivering activity within existing education and community settings, including Pupil Referral Units, alternative education provision, and trusted community spaces, the programme works in places young people already know and feel comfortable in. This reduces reliance on new facilities, keeps delivery costs manageable, and supports regular participation. Strong relationships with local authorities, education providers, and community organisations help ensure safeguarding, coordination, and continuity, allowing the programme to respond effectively to local need. The programme brings together trauma informed sport, mentoring, and life skills learning, delivered by trained coaches and mentors with lived experience. This creates consistent and supportive environments where young people feel understood and motivated to engage. Attendance, engagement, and progression are monitored throughout, including accredited outcomes, so learning and improvement are built into delivery. Financial sustainability is supported through a mix of sport focused grant funding and partnerships aligned with health, education, and youth priorities, reducing reliance on any single funding source and strengthening long term stability. Scalability is built into the programme design. By aligning with NHS social prescribing and wider commissioning routes, it creates pathways for referrals and longer-term investment from health and public sector partners. The next stage focuses on expanding delivery to additional education and community sites, training more coaches and mentors, and strengthening referral relationships.
Roles and Responsibilities: Describe how responsibilities are shared among your team or partners.
The Midnight Train Step Up Programme has been designed to work in the real world, with young people, schools, and communities at its centre. By delivering activity within Pupil Referral Units, alternative education provision, and trusted community spaces, the programme uses places that young people already know and feel comfortable in. This keeps costs low, avoids reliance on new facilities, and makes it easier for young people to attend regularly. Strong relationships with local authorities, education providers, and community organisations help ensure safeguarding, coordination, and continuity, so delivery remains consistent and responsive to local need. The programme combines trauma-informed sport, mentoring, and life skills learning, delivered by coaches and mentors with lived experience. This creates an environment where young people feel understood, supported, and motivated to return. Attendance, engagement, and progression are monitored throughout, including accredited outcomes, so learning is built into the programme, and improvements can be made over time. Financial sustainability is supported through a mix of sport-focused grant funding and partnerships aligned with health, education, and youth priorities, reducing reliance on any single funding source and supporting long term stability. Looking ahead, the programme is designed to grow at a pace that protects quality. By aligning with NHS social prescribing and wider commissioning routes, it opens up pathways for referrals and longer term support from health and public sector partners. The next stage focuses on reaching more education and community sites, training additional coaches and mentors, and strengthening referral relationships. With the right support, the programme aims to reach over 200 excluded or at-risk young people over an 18 month period, embedding access to sport and play into everyday settings rather than delivering short term or isolated activity.
Upcoming Milestones: Please provide an overview of the milestones that are required for your initiative to come to fruition/to grow.
The next stage of The Midnight Train Step Up Programme will focus on growing what is already working, while ensuring quality and relationships remain at the centre of delivery. The programme is already established and publicly listed as a core service on the Richard Riakporhe Foundation website (https://www.riakporhefoundation.org/services/the-midnight-train-step-up-programme), demonstrating delivery readiness and providing a strong foundation for growth. Strengthening the foundations (Months 1–3): This phase focuses on preparing the programme for growth. Delivery sites across Pupil Referral Units, alternative education settings, and community spaces will be confirmed, and partnership arrangements clarified to ensure consistency and shared understanding. Coaches and mentors will receive further training in trauma-informed practice, safeguarding, and reflective delivery. Simple but robust systems will be finalised to track attendance, engagement, and progress, ensuring learning and quality are embedded from the outset. Expanding delivery and referral pathways (Months 4–12): During this phase, the programme will increase the number of regular sport, mentoring, and life skills sessions delivered each week. Referral pathways through education settings and NHS social prescribing will be activated, enabling health, education, and wellbeing professionals to connect young people into the programme more easily. Ongoing feedback from young people and partners will be used to adapt delivery, strengthen engagement, and improve outcomes as the programme grows. Scaling impact and long term sustainability (Months 13–18): The final phase focuses on reaching over 200 excluded or at risk young people and embedding the programme within local systems. Learning from delivery and monitoring will inform evaluation, strengthen partnerships, and support future funding and commissioning opportunities. This phase ensures the programme is positioned for lasting, place-based impact through continued delivery within trusted education, community, and health settings.
Capacity-Building Participation and Support Funding: If you were to make it as a finalist, you will be required to participate in an 8-week capacity building programme. If funding/ cost is a barrier to your participation, we may be able to offer up to 10,000 GBP of grant money available to support you. Please break down below, if it is the case, what costs you would incur and you would need covered. (Please note that there are restrictions on how the grant money may be used; please refer to the T&Cs for further details.
Participation in the 8-week capacity-building programme would place additional demands on staff time and delivery capacity, and support funding would ensure we can engage fully without disrupting safe, consistent sport provision for young people. Coaching and Mentoring Staff (including backfill): £5,000 Covering time for lead boxing and kickboxing coaches and mentors to participate in learning, mentoring, and workshop sessions, with sessional backfill to ensure sport activity sessions continue uninterrupted across delivery sites. Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning: £1,000 Supporting data collection, reflection, and reporting linked to attendance, engagement, wellbeing, and progression, enabling learning from the programme to be embedded into delivery and impact measurement. Referral/Access Communications and Marketing: £2,000 Developing and updating clear, referral-focused materials for schools, community partners, and NHS social prescribing teams to strengthen access to boxing and kickboxing sessions. Safeguarding and Programme Coordination: £1,000 Reviewing and updating safeguarding policies, procedures, and coordination systems to ensure sessions remain safe, consistent, and well managed as learning is applied. Travel and Subsistence: £1000 Covering reasonable travel and subsistence costs for coaches and mentors travelling to venues to deliver sport activity sessions during the programme period. Total support requested: £10,000 This support would allow meaningful participation in the capacity-building programme while protecting delivery quality, safeguarding standards, and continuity of boxing and kickboxing provision, ensuring learning is embedded to strengthen long-term impact.
