We deliver game and life changing projects that lead to targeted long-term behaviour change for people from deprived and forgotten communities in England.
We believe that some communities and people aren’t given the same opportunities as others and we want to ‘level the playing field’ for all. It’s a lofty ambition, but we have the drive, passion and, most importantly, the people to help us achieve our goals.
We mainly work across Brighton & Hove and, specifically, Whitehawk, Moulsecoomb and Hangleton and Knoll, but we’ve also worked across Sussex and in London. We want to spread our message far and wide – and you can help us do that.
The VYD proposition links funders , partners and participants with the projects that deliver the benefits.
It harnesses the unifying and universal language of football to create the framework that helps the individual personal challenges, including national stigma and stereotypes, to create stronger communities.
VYD support, empower, and inspire marginalised people from deprived and forgotten communities. We help them reach personal goals through innovative sports and education-based projects, leading to lasting behaviour change and new opportunities.
Activists with a small ‘a’, VYD is a coalition of passionate people with the tools and expertise to deliver real change on a local level. By helping the individual we create a better community and drive societal change. And many individuals love football.
We’re football supporters. As fans, amateur players, coaches, or administrators we love the game, have done all our lives, and we are now engaged with the sport either through our professional or personal lives. Football is more than a sport, just as people are often more than the labels society gives them.
Driven by a vision: We reach those ostracised or left behind by traditional society structure and recognise the healing power of carefully structured football development programmes, or just a kickabout with friends, or people who share a love of the game as a common denominator.
Looking for projects. We are always looking for need-specific programmes to initiate, and partners to support them. VYD is a relatively new initiative that already has a good track record of success. With more funders and partners, we can enable more projects and do more good. It’s that simple.
Working to a plan: This is not a vanity project. VYD has a solid ambition: To be the To be the most influential sports based social impact organisation in the UK by 2025. To deliver game-changing projects that lead to targeted, long-term behaviour change in deprived communities in England.
That won’t happen overnight or by accident. So we are working to a strategic, time-specific framework.
Good at what we do: From a modest start our programme of projects has expanded exponentially. We’ve worked with diverse cultural groups across the region and engaged big-hitting local partners, such as Care4Calais, The Hummingbird Project, colleges and schools, the council, and the Crew Club Brighton
…and It’s going great.
Political: VYD have not, and will not, play politics or pick a side. While as individuals we may have views on why those on VYD programmes need our help, we’re not motivated by the desire to prove a point or provide a stick for one party to use against another.
Professional: Our people include marketing experts, sports coaches and volunteers from all walks of life, linked only by our shared passion in football’s healing powers to improve lives and enable change.
Prejudiced: We have no preconceived ideas about the ideal VYD project profile. The object is purely to find a community group that would benefit from a structured, supported, sustainable and well executed improvement plan that meets any – or more – of the four key criteria.
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