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
Una
Last Name
Sookum
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
Evelyn Grace Academy
Year that you started/ registered your organisation
2012
Initiative Title
Summer festival of sport
My initiative is designed for and delivered in London
1
Website URL(s) or Social Media Handles
evelyngraceacademy.org
Initiative Stage
Idea (You have a solid concept and are hoping to get started in the future)
Sectors/Themes: What topic does your project most directly relate to?
Children & Youth
Initiative Summary: Describe your initiative in one sentence
To get a step change in the access to well designed activity and sport particularly for girls and young women in the area.
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?
We live in a community without access to meaningful activity. Due to fear for safety but also a lack of confidence there is a lack of engagement and a lack of access particularly to try new experiences. There is a level of violence, disadvantage and being shown new things which is accepted in other communities. Fear operates both in response to safety but also around permissions. We have a very highly mobile school population due to poverty and housing displacement. An estimated 5 per cent of the school population do not have recourse to public funds. There is fear of criminal exploitation and a wider mental health crisis. Active lives data shows a low level of activity and anecdotal evidence suggests this is getting worse in this area. We have carried out qualitative pieces of work in seeking to address the issue of accessibility to safe places to take part in and experience good quality PA and sport. This culminated in the HACKATHON. It is clear that particularly girls and young women for a variety of reasons are not experiencing the transformative impact of activity for a number of reasons. This includes safe spaces to both try activities sports and play out that is separate from boys at least initially. Additionally the issue of scaling and more competitive achievement after the initial engagement. At present our facility and the wider community do not support this scaling and development.
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?
We will create safe spaces for in particular Girls and young women to experience activity, play and sport. This will particularly aim at when risks of disengagement are high. So 10 -12 the transition years, 12-14 when evidence shows girls disengage from activity and an older age range for more mixed activity (Lambeth World Cup). There is a complete gap in league structure between grassroots women’s football and professional leagues, and there is nobody locally brokering cross-school tournaments or inter-school fixtures for women and girls. This gap reduces interest in regular participation, leadership development and continuity at the point where many girls step away from sport. We have strong local evidence of need around girls’ physical activity, and we also have research to back this up from our 'defining local need' consultations. Evelyn Grace Academy wants to run a Festival of Sport over the summer by unlocking its premises to local VCS providers, and enabling young women and girls to access a series of football engagements, tournaments and fixtures. The plan includes working with feeder schools so younger children gain familiarity with the secondary school premises as part of transition. The school site becomes a place where girls can turn up, take part, build confidence, and see that sport is valued and prioritised for them and brings the school’s excellent facilities to life during a period it would otherwise be left largely underused. This work connects directly to the momentum created by Sport England and London Sport investment coming into Lambeth. We want to leverage this opportunity to fix what is broken in the borough’s sport infrastructure for women and girls and to build the missing cross-school structure that keeps participation going.
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?
We are developing a hub and spoke model to make this work and have already put significant work with our partners including Eco system Coldharbour to make sure this will be effective. We are looking to get system change in how the asset is used and how it operates for the community. They have held a number of events and built on a Safe Spaces report which was led by peer researchers that demonstrated the need to be more ambitious. This highlighted the need for supervision and oversight, better supported transport and help in developing confidence to unlock potential and experience. We notice low take up in other activities. We will link up and channel young people from our feeder Primary schools to aid transition. In particular for the Football World Cup run by Fulham we will ring fence places and look to create a Lambeth wide access (mirroring the boys activity) from other secondary schools in Lambeth. We are developing strong links with local youth provision including eco system and the trail partnership led by Marcus Lipton Youth Centre on our local estates. All these will act as feeders and support with the summer festival of activity. We have really good links with the providers of trusted activity in the area that we want to grow as well as ambitions to bring in specialists and recreation activities outside of the area to increase levels of experience in the community. Football will be a pilot around the World Cup initiative but want to unlock access to play and activities for their own sake too as part of a wider need to unlock enjoyment for young people. Hence the festival idea.
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?
Schools are vitally important particularly in areas of multiple need and limited access to opportunity and experience. We need to unlock the potential of the place and use trusted organisations and individuals to engage young people and transform the facilities that we have. This summer festival of activity will develop initiatives already started to be truly transformative and start to develop structures and competition to start realising young peoples potential ambition. This will change the perception and expectation of the school both inside and out and unlock a safe and truly universal space that is unique in the local environment. We are also learning with London Sport and Eco system the requirements to scale activity to meet expectation and commitment.
Innovation: What is different about your initiative compared to other solutions that are already out there? How is your approach original and innovative?
We need to unlock our facilities for the wider community that is suffering from an acute lack of access to good quality safe provision. The community has suffered multiple traumas and we have worked hard to engage with local community groups and people directly impacted to get real change. This is a potentially pivotal moment. Efforts developed by Eco System Coldharbour and MLCE mean that we have the potential to engage young people themselves far from activity. This together with efforts to create local leagues and competition where appropriate is truly transformative. We also want to work with local primary schools particularly to support vulnerable pupils in transition between primary and secondary school and secondary schools to increase connection and future collaboration. We will use local partners such as MLCE, ecosystem and St Michaels Fellowship to provide ongoing collaboration to keep and build the unlocking of our asset leading to longer term change use and perception of the site. We will provide steering support and development of this model
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?
We have real ambition here. It is linked to wider investment from the GLAs' violence reduction unit in developing access for those furthest from support while we are also engaging with the FA, local sports providers and new community entrants to ensure sustainability and the development of structures that unlock potential. At present particularly in women's sports in our area that does not happen. This will start that process. We are bring together partners, other schools community members and parents to bring a sea change in how the school is seen and start to address the lack of access and removal from activity that so many of our young people face in this area.
Roles and Responsibilities: Describe how responsibilities are shared among your team or partners.
Ecosystem provides access and support to community and voluntary sector partners who have access to those with trusted relationships. MLCE provides connection to a developing network of local youth providers. MLCE are funding a coordination across local voluntary sector partners to make sure activities are truly accessible. Fulham Football community foundation will provide the capacity and co-ordination to run the Women's Lambeth football World Cup.
Upcoming Milestones: Please provide an overview of the milestones that are required for your initiative to come to fruition/to grow.
1. Pilot events across the Easter holidays 2. Steering group considering the areas needed to step change access to sport and physical activity opportunities for young women. Developing an action plan to the summer. 3. Working group to drive and develop the festival of sport 4. Legacy group to mainstream activity and scale as needed.
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.
We would need support for Eco system and other partners to take part to co-ordinate and facilitate the development of the festival of sport. Some of our partners are small scale but offer truly impactful activities. Without them and their reach into the community our events would not be transformational. Community partners funding £ 500 p.d activity activation. No costs required for Ecosystem or Evelyn Grace in this initial period of activation.
