London youth groups to benefit from sport funding

The money is to be provided through three funding programmes that make up part of Mayor Boris Johnson's £25m Sports Legacy Programme.

The FreeSport scheme will see grants of up to £1,500 made available to about 150 London projects to run free sports activities from January to April 2016.

The scheme, which allocates funding twice a year and is backed by Coca-Cola, aims to work with youth clubs and community groups to help encourage people to take part in sport.

The £200,000 fund is looking to target organisations that do not traditionally engage in sport, but would like to trial sports programmes. The deadline for applications is 26 October.

Alongside the extended scheme, Johnson has also announced £1.35m of funding for a new sports scheme called ClubWorks, which is delivered by London Sport and will look to strengthen 300 sports clubs and groups across the capital over the next three years so they can develop a strong set of volunteers and coaches, and attract funders to improve sustainability.

A pilot of the scheme – involving 25 organisations including West London YMCA, Brent Youth and the BIGKID Foundation – is currently taking place to identify how to make best use of the funding.

Meanwhile, a further £1m is being invested in the Mayor’s Sports Participation Fund, which encourages more people in the capital to take part in sport and physical activity through two-year sports participation projects.

Grants of up to £175,000 will be made available to London-wide projects that encourage girls and women to participate in sport.

The Sports Legacy Programme helps to create opportunities for people to get active by investing in projects across all the capital’s boroughs.

Kate Hoey, the Mayor’s sports commissioner, said: “These three programmes are an exciting opportunity for sports clubs and community groups of all shapes and sizes to get the support they need to get more Londoners active.

“With this significant investment, they have the opportunity to develop their organisation’s sporting offer through expert support, funding and guidance that will help them flourish.”