The Doncaster Rovers Foundation is celebrating its achievements over the past year and the positive contribution it is making across the Borough.
The Foundation, which is a registered charity, works with young people and adults across Doncaster on a number of levels in order to improve their lives and the local community.Over the past 12 months the Foundation has been delivering a number of different projects both football and non-football related to enrich the lives of each participant that joins them.
Key focuses for the Doncaster Rovers Foundation are post 16 Education, citizenship, raising aspiration levels in schools, increasing sports participation, anti-social behaviour reduction and substance misuse recovery.
From school and multi skill programmes, to the National Citizen Service and Project Youth, the Foundation has achieved record levels of outputs for the academic year 2012/13.
Key outputs achieved include engaging with more than 18,000 individuals through targeted intervention and getting them to participate in physical activity, further education and/or accredited training, recording more than 73,000 participant visits over a 52 week period – with an average of 1,400 visits per week, supporting 6 former NEETS (not in education, employment or training) to gain full time employment into skilled work and four former job seekers to gain full time employment in skilled work.
Other highlights include 3,109 participating in the Holiday programme, over 300 hours delivered in HMP Marshgate as part of the ‘Rovers Academy’, engaging 500 students in the What’s Your Goal project, delivering the Respect campaign to 1,204 participants, more than 900 participants to drop in clubs as well as 125 students completing the NCS summer programme and more than 200 young people engaging with the Kickz/Project Youth programme.
Liam Scully, Chief Executive of the Doncaster Rovers Community Foundation, said: “We have had a fantastic year and are immensely proud of our achievements.
“As well as a further education provider, we deliver a number of intervention projects based on local, regional and national agendas.
“The work of the Foundation in unbelievably varied and diverse and to have had such a successful academic year is testament to the team that we have developed with the Foundation.
“We are very much working hard to ensure that we continue to improve the achievements of everyone who access the Foundation. For example we had 81 full time students studying with us last year who went on to achieve excellent academic results. Most have now progressed into higher education or are now in skilled employment.
“We work with a number of headline partners to deliver the programmes and services we offer including Selby College, DMBC, local Primary Schools, South Yorkshire Police, the NHS, South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service, the Football League Trust and the Professional Footballers Association.
“I would like to say a big thank you to all our partners for working with us and helping us to achieve such outstanding results this year.”
Jo Miller, Chief Executive of Doncaster Council, said: “The past 12 months have seen significant achievement by the Doncaster Rovers Foundation. I would like to congratulate all involved for their hard work. I am pleased that Doncaster Council and the foundation enjoy a strong partnership working relationship through our Doncaster Active Partnership.”