Accrington Stanley Community Trust - Impact Report 2023

Champions Weekly mentoring sessions have been vital in helping each young person work towards their goals. 2023 saw our mentors establish strong working partnerships with four local high schools, meaning we can provide the best wrap around support for each young person and align our goals with each care provider to ensure that everyone is helping each child reach their full potential. Towards the end of the year, our reach also expanded into Rossendale and the Ribble Valley. This will allow us to provide support to young people in those boroughs in the new year. ASCT Champions runs off a rewards system, giving clients positive motivation to move towards their goals. In July a number of clients were rewarded with a trip to Ninja Warrior in Manchester. We have also held activities at the Sports Hub during the half-term, including a video game tournament in which some members of the first team also participated which inspired our young people to think positively about their futures. In 2023, ASCT became the first Trust to appoint a player ambassador for Champions. Sean McConville took on the role in October and plans have been put in place to utilise his strong presence within the club for 2024.

Accrington Stanley Community Trust are proud to be one of the nine football community trusts to deliver the Champions programme, a personal development programme aimed at 10 to 25 years old in Lancashire. Working in partnership with Lancashire violence reduction network (LVRN) as well as working closely with Lancashire police gives us the opportunity to play a part in turning young peoples’ lives around, encouraging them to think about their future prospects and providing mentored help to assist them in achieving their goals. For three years we have been delivering the Champions programme to great success, with 2023 seeing our mentors work with the young people to help them achieve their potential through relevant activities, support services and opportunities. We work in collaboration with Clayton Amateur Boxing Club to provide weekly sessions for our young people. These sessions are aimed at helping our young people channel their emotions in a positive way whilst also instilling respect and discipline. We have also hosted a range of educational activities at the Sports Hub aimed at broadening their wider understanding of society. Throughout the year, we have hosted two knife crime awareness talks, facilitated by Lancashire Police.

11 IMPACT REPORT 2023