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 UK entity and has a London-based address.
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
Trisheba
Last Name
Ullah
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.
Lead Organisation Name
Fit For Life Youth
Year that you started/ registered your organisation
2019
Initiative Title
Opening the Doors
My initiative is designed for and delivered in London
1
Website URL(s) or Social Media Handles
fitforlifeyouth.co.uk & @fitforlifeyouth on Instagram
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
Fit For Life Youth will pilot a new way of using Lancaster Youth Club by reimagining the space as a flexible, inclusive sport and play hub for young people aged 11-19 (up to 25 if SEND) who face barriers to participation.
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 children and young people in Kensington and Chelsea face significant barriers to accessing safe, welcoming spaces for sport and play, despite living in a borough with high levels of provision. Nationally, nearly half of children and young people do not meet recommended physical activity levels, and participation rates are even lower for girls, young people with SEND, and those from low-income households. Locally, stark inequalities exist within Kensington and Chelsea, where pockets of deprivation sit alongside affluence, and young people report limited access to inclusive, youth-friendly spaces outside school hours. Youth clubs and community spaces like Lancaster Youth Club are vital local assets, yet they are often underused or accessed by a narrow group of young people. Fixed layouts, limited programming, and a lack of flexible or sensory-aware provision can unintentionally exclude those who feel anxious, unwelcome, or unsupported, particularly young people with SEND, low confidence, or negative prior experiences of sport. Fit For Life Youth is deeply embedded in this community and works daily with children and young people aged 6-25 across Kensington and Chelsea. Many of our staff and volunteers grew up locally and have lived experience of the barriers young people face. Through our existing delivery, we consistently hear that young people want to be active but need spaces that feel safe, inclusive, and designed with their needs in mind. This project responds directly to that need by reimagining how an existing youth space is used, rather than creating something new, to ensure more young people can benefit from sport and play close to home.
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?
Our approach focuses on reimagining how existing youth spaces are used, rather than creating new facilities. At Lancaster Youth Club, we'll pilot a flexible, inclusive model that unlocks access to sport and physical activity by changing how space is structured, programmed, and experienced by young people. The project will test a series of “space experiments” that remove common barriers to participation. This includes reconfiguring layouts to create distinct active and calm zones, introducing time-based access like SEN-inclusive and girls-only sessions, and embedding sensory-aware adaptations that reduce anxiety and uncertainty. Young people will be actively involved in shaping how the space looks, feels, and functions, helping to build ownership and trust. Sport and physical activity, including boxing and movement-based sessions, will be used intentionally as structured, adaptable tools to support confidence, wellbeing, and engagement. The focus isn't on sport performance, but on how physical activity can be delivered in ways that feel safe, accessible, and welcoming. Our “aha” moment came from delivering sessions in community spaces and repeatedly hearing from young people that it wasn’t a lack of interest in sport that stopped them attending, but how spaces felt and who they were perceived to be for. This insight shaped our belief that small, low-cost changes to space use and decision-making can have a disproportionate impact on inclusion. Lancaster Youth Club, local partners, and decision-makers play a critical role by enabling flexible use of space, supporting adapted programming, and helping embed learning that can inform wider practice across K&C. By strengthening these relationships, the project aims to create a model that can be replicated.
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?
Young people are at the centre of this initiative, shaping both how the space is used and how the project evolves. The project will be co-created with young people who already attend Lancaster Youth Club, as well as those who are currently underrepresented or face barriers to participation, including young people with SEND, girls, and those with low confidence or anxiety around sport. From the outset, young people will be involved in identifying barriers to using the space and generating ideas for how it could feel more welcoming and inclusive. This will include informal conversations during sessions, and creative activities where young people help redesign layouts, suggest adaptations, and define the types of activities and access times that work for them. Their feedback will directly inform the “space experiments” tested throughout the pilot. Young people will also play an active role in delivery by supporting peer-led sessions, helping set shared rules for how the space is used, and contributing to ongoing reflection and learning. This peer involvement helps build ownership, confidence, and leadership, while ensuring the space reflects the real needs of those using it. The initiative is rooted in the local community, drawing on Fit For Life Youth’s long-standing relationships with families, schools, and community partners in Kensington and Chelsea. Parents and carers, particularly of young people with SEND, will be engaged through regular feedback and check-ins to ensure adaptations are meaningful and responsive. By placing young people closest to the problem at the heart of decision-making, the project moves beyond consultation to genuine collaboration, ensuring the solution is shaped by lived experience and grounded in the community it serves.
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?
This initiative will create impact by unlocking more equitable access to physical activity within an existing youth space, while generating learning that can inform wider practice. Fit For Life Youth already delivers physical activity and youth programmes across Kensington and Chelsea, engaging hundreds of children and young people each year, many of whom face barriers including low income, SEND, low confidence, or previous disengagement from sport. Building on this experience, the pilot will focus specifically on how space is used at Lancaster Youth Club. In the short term, we expect to engage 50-100 young people through inclusive sport and play sessions, with increased participation from groups currently underrepresented in physical activity, including girls and young people with SEND. Outputs will include adapted space layouts, new access times, youth-led sessions, and practical approaches to making spaces more inclusive without major capital investment. In the medium to longer term, the project will support sustained engagement in physical activity, increase young people’s confidence using shared community spaces, and strengthen relationships between young people and local youth provision. Attendance data, participation patterns, and qualitative feedback will provide clear evidence of impact. Learning from the pilot will be shared with other youth spaces and partners across Kensington and Chelsea, supporting a replicable model for reimagining community spaces to better serve excluded young people.
Innovation: What is different about your initiative compared to other solutions that are already out there? How is your approach original and innovative?
The innovation of this initiative lies in reimagining how existing youth spaces are used, rather than creating new facilities or programmes. While many approaches focus on increasing sports provision, this project tackles a more fundamental barrier: the way spaces are structured, accessed, and perceived by young people who feel excluded from traditional sport and youth settings. At Lancaster Youth Club, we are testing a flexible, low-cost model that treats space as something that can adapt to young people, rather than expecting young people to adapt to the space. This includes reconfiguring layouts without capital works, introducing time-based access such as SEND-inclusive and girls-only sessions, and embedding sensory-aware design principles to reduce anxiety and uncertainty. These changes challenge the norm of fixed, one-size-fits-all youth spaces. The project is also innovative in how it shares decision-making. Young people are not just participants but active co-designers, shaping how the space looks, functions, and evolves over time. This shift in power helps build ownership and trust, which are often missing in conventional provision. By combining physical activity with flexible space design and youth-led decision-making, the initiative offers a replicable alternative to traditional models. It demonstrates that meaningful inclusion does not always require new buildings or significant investment, but a willingness to rethink how existing spaces are opened, governed, and experienced by the community.
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?
This initiative is designed to be operationally viable by building on Fit For Life Youth’s existing delivery infrastructure, partnerships, and trusted presence in Kensington and Chelsea. By working at our established youth space at Lancaster Youth Club, the project avoids significant capital costs and focuses resources on programming, staff time, and learning. Clear roles, realistic delivery schedules, and ongoing monitoring will ensure the pilot is manageable and effective. Operational sustainability will be supported by embedding successful elements of the pilot into Fit For Life Youth’s wider programme offer, including staff training, session planning, and space-use guidance. Learning generated through the pilot will be documented and used to refine the model, ensuring it can continue beyond the initial funding period with reduced reliance on external support. In terms of scale, the project is intentionally designed as a replicable model rather than a one-off intervention. The next phase would involve applying the learning from Lancaster Youth Club to additional community or youth spaces across Kensington and Chelsea, working in partnership with space owners, local authorities, and community organisations. This could include adapting the model for different space types or age groups, and sharing practical tools and guidance with other providers. Support from Go! London will be critical in strengthening evaluation, partnership development, and knowledge-sharing, enabling the initiative to grow in depth and reach over time while maintaining its core focus on inclusion and access.
Roles and Responsibilities: Describe how responsibilities are shared among your team or partners.
Fit For Life Youth will lead overall project management, delivery, and learning, drawing on our experienced staff team and established safeguarding and delivery systems. Our team will be responsible for coordinating sessions, facilitating youth co-design activities, delivering inclusive sport and physical activity sessions, and collecting learning and feedback throughout the pilot. Lancaster Youth Club will play a key role as the host space, supporting access to the venue, flexible use of rooms and time slots, and ongoing coordination to ensure the project aligns with the needs of the wider youth community. Their staff will work closely with Fit For Life Youth to support engagement, outreach, and day-to-day delivery. Young people will have defined roles within the initiative as co-designers and peer contributors, helping shape how the space is used, supporting session design, and feeding into reflection and decision-making. Parents, carers, and community partners will contribute through feedback, informal consultation, and support with engagement, particularly for young people with SEND. This shared approach ensures responsibility is distributed, partnerships are meaningful, and delivery is grounded in both professional expertise and lived experience.
Upcoming Milestones: Please provide an overview of the milestones that are required for your initiative to come to fruition/to grow.
The initiative will begin with a structured planning and co-design phase within Lancaster Youth Club, where Fit For Life Youth will finalise delivery schedules, engage young people in workshops to identify barriers, and shape the initial “space experiments.” Baseline participation data and feedback measures will be established at this stage. This will be followed by a pilot delivery phase in which adapted layouts, time-based access sessions (including SEND-inclusive and girls-only provision), and youth-led activities are introduced and tested within the club. Attendance, engagement levels, and qualitative feedback will be monitored closely, allowing for iterative adjustments throughout the pilot. Following this, a reflection and evaluation phase will analyse participation data and lived experience feedback to identify which adaptations most effectively increased inclusion and access. Learning will be consolidated into a practical framework outlining what worked and why. In the final stage, successful elements of the pilot will be embedded into Fit For Life Youth’s ongoing programming at Lancaster Youth Club, with learning shared across our wider delivery network to support replication in other community 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 require dedicated staff time to ensure meaningful engagement in workshops, peer learning, and development activities, while maintaining consistent delivery at Lancaster Youth Club. As a frontline youth organisation, it is essential that young people’s provision is not disrupted. If required, support funding would therefore be used primarily to cover staff backfill to maintain safe and consistent delivery during programme participation. Additional costs may include allocated project development time to strengthen evaluation frameworks, refine the space model, and embed learning into operational planning, as well as materials to support youth co-design workshops and structured consultation activities. Where applicable, travel and participation-related expenses would also be included. This support would enable Fit For Life Youth to fully engage in the capacity-building process without compromising ongoing provision, ensuring that learning is effectively translated into sustainable impact within Lancaster Youth Club and beyond.
