Member Article

North East charity celebrates bumper year in education and sport

Tens of thousands of young people and families across the North East are now benefitting from improved education, employability and personal skills, following a bumper year for a leading charity.

Figures in the Foundation of Light’s new annual Yearbook, released this week, show that the charity delivered more than 2,700 sport and education-based courses in 2013, both at the Stadium of Light and through various outreach centres and schools across the region.

As part of these programmes the Foundation’s award-winning coaches have worked with more than 29,000 young people aged three and above, using sport as a way of encouraging them to be more active and sociable.

They have also worked in partnership with 26 special schools and units to give more than 2,800 disabled children access to sport and helped to improve the health of more than 1,300 adults through a range of sport-based initiatives and health MOTs.

Away from sport, SAFC’s official charity has also delivered a wide range of education-based courses at sites in Chester-le-Street, Derwentside, Easington, Shildon, South Tyneside and Sunderland.

This includes a large number of adult and family education courses, which have helped bring participants closer together, along with a variety of teen-focused schemes, which have been linked to a reduction in youth crime and progression into employment or further education for more than 97 per cent of participants.

Adult employment has also been boosted by the charity in the past 12 months, with the Foundation of Light offering work-based courses and working alongside more than 100 companies to help 3000 people improve their employability and, in 90 per cent of cases, achieve a formal qualification.

In addition, the charity has delivered almost 13,000 separate education courses for four to 19 year-olds, with up to 320 hours per week spent in schools across the region, educating youngsters on issues such as drugs, bullying and racism.

Lesley Spuhler, Chief Executive Officer for the Foundation of Light, said: “The Foundation of Light has had a fantastic year and we’ve made great strides towards achieving our goal of giving communities across the North East more opportunities to improve their education, employability, health and ultimately, enjoyment of life.

“Over the past 12 months we’ve helped make big improvements in grassroots sport, worked with thousands of young people and teenagers and continued to offer adults of all ages help with issues range from family to finance – but our work is far from done.

“We’ve already got big plans for 2014 and beyond and I would like to thank all of our staff, partners and supporters for helping to make this possible and for their role in everything we have achieved so far.”

For more information about the Foundation of Light and the full range of programmes on offer, visit www.foundationoflight.co.uk, call 0191 551519, email info@foundationoflight.co.uk or follow @SAFCFol on Twitter.

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