We have five main areas of work:

NCS helps a young person with their transition into adulthood:

Designed for 16-17 year olds, the experience gives young people the chance to turn “No you can’t” into “No We Can”! From meeting new people, taking on team challenges, tasting independence, building new skills and delivering their own community ‘passion project’  NCS engages, unites and empowers young people to achieve, regardless of where they are from or what their background is. The EFL Trust has been delivering NCS to young people since the pilots in 2011. This year alone around 20,000 young people will take part in NCS with our network.

Helping groups who face disadvantage to achieve and progress:

By identifying the barriers which can hold people back – particularly those who face disadvantage – we seek interventions to help them overcome these, access opportunities and improve their life prospects.  As an example, we are working in partnership with The FA to provide young girls in England the opportunity to access the Lionesses Talent Pathway and fulfil their potential towards becoming an elite athlete regardless of their ethnicity, demographic or social class.

Making our communities safer and more connected. We work with key partners to reduce serious violence and re-offending, and combat isolation and exclusion.  Our diversionary activities for young people aim to both divert them from getting involved in criminal activity, and prevent them from entering the criminal justice system. Many CCOs also work closely with offenders and ex-offenders to help facilitate their re-entry into community life, helping them to gain key life skills and improve their chances of social reintegration.

Supporting the integration of different communities:

Using their position as prominent community organisations, our CCOs use football as a uniting force to increase tolerance and understanding between different faiths, cultures, generations and social groups. Examples of our work include supporting The Home Office Building a Stronger Britain Together to reduce prejudice and counter extremism, and through NCS, bringing young people from different backgrounds together to form bonds which bridge apparent divides. The work of our CCOs in integrating different communities has been highlighted in the Integrated Communities Green Paper from the MHCLG and we continue to work with them and Sport England to develop sport’s role in integration.

Delivering social action and volunteering opportunities:

Our CCOs have a long history of offering volunteering opportunities, and through NCS our CCOs are now supporting young people to embrace social action and undertake hugely impactful projects within the community. Examples include working with homeless people, older people who face isolation, those with mental health issues and people with disabilities.