Support Through Sport, a Community Interest Company (CIC) based in Nottinghamshire, recently received funding from the Ministry of Justice through the Government’s £5million Youth Justice Sport Fund, which has been overseen by Coalition members StreetGames and the Alliance of Sport in Criminal Justice. More than 200 other grassroots organisations across England and Wales have also been supported by the Fund, with the ultimate goal of using sport as a tool to prevent youth crime and anti-social behaviour.
Support Through Sport focuses on giving all young people equal opportunities and providing interventions to tackle youth offending and serious violence. It supported 1033 young people from December 2021 to December 2022, with 58% of those from Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities. In this article, founder Tranai Todd (pictured right) speaks to Oscar Crossan Jory about the impact of the funding.
Hi Tranai, thanks for speaking to the Coalition. Can you tell us a bit about Support Through Sport and what it does?
It’s a youth organisation set up in July 2021 with the focus of delivering sport-based interventions and mentoring support for young people within disadvantaged areas. We use sport as the hook to engage with young people, and support them to access a number of further initiatives, so things like volunteering, placements and apprenticeships. We know the importance of youth voice and youth empowerment when affecting change so we’re youth-led with 80% of the team under 25. Young people leading the way is what we’re all about.
What drove you to set up this organisation?
I set up the organisation off the back of my own lived experience. Sport was a really powerful tool for me, particularly boxing; it really helped me to get on track, to have a positive focus and to do well. Seeing initiatives like the Sport for Development Coalition’s #OpenGoal framework really showcases that link between the power of sport in creating meaningful, positive change for young people and building a fairer, more equitable and sustainable future for everyone.
How will the Youth Justice Sport Fund help Support Through Sport to reach its goals?
The funding has really allowed us to build capacity in terms of that secondary and tertiary sport-plus offer. It’s allowed us to focus on the learning behind what we’re delivering. We’ve built the capacity to bring on two more youth mentors who work intensely with disadvantaged young people. Having the space and ability to be able to perfect that was really important, and that's something the funding allowed us to do.
What do you think the funding helps to achieve for the local community?
Many of the areas we work in are identified as hotspots and communities of need with no, or limited youth provision. It's really important we fill those gaps with quality provision which is sustainable for young people, which is what our programmes do. This then has a positive impact on the long term safety and prosperity of the surrounding community.
Is Support Through Sport an ambitious organisation, and what do the next few years look like for it?
How much we’ve developed in such a short space of time is quite immense. We wouldn't have got to that stage if we weren’t tenacious and ambitious. The whole team is built on passion and commitment to supporting young people and growing the organisation. That won't stop, we will continue to strive to be the best we can be for our young people and the wider community.
Our vision is to support as many young people as possible through our bespoke and unique approach of youth-led, proactive prevention. We’ve got passion, energy, commitment and shared values that we’re harnessing for good. We know our model of sport-based intervention and mentoring is effective so we hope to expand into even more communities who can benefit from our model.
Find out more about Support Through Sport at www.supportthroughsport.co.uk
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