Sport England has announced that the latest tranche of National Lottery funding will see £8.2m put towards helping disadvantaged communities get active.
More than 124,000 people will benefit from the scheme, which will use sport and physical activity to help tackle social problems affecting young people, women and ethnic minorities.
"The 46 projects receiving National Lottery funding today all have compelling plans to use sport as a way of improving the lives of thousands of people,” said Sport England’s director of community sport, Mike Diaper.
“We know that people who live challenging lives face the biggest barriers to getting active – this fund is about breaking the barriers down."
Designed to encourage sport for social good, the fund has relaxed its rules to enable less well-off communities to apply for funding. Normally, Sport England requires organisations to co-fund a proportion of their project, but where projects relate to areas of social disadvantage and the majority of the targeted participants live in the local authority ward, this condition can be waived. Since 2013, more than 200 projects have already received funding, helping to get 350,000 people active to date.
Among the latest projects to receive backing is the Jason Roberts Foundation, which has received a £150,000 funding slice to continue its work changing traditional perceptions of sports such as golf, rugby and tennis being elitist.
Other projects receiving a share of the National Lottery funding include Getting the Inactive Active! The project, run by FitCap, will use £152,375 of funding to focus on getting under 30s who live challenging lives in East Birmingham and North Solihull active by giving them the chance to try a host of different sports without having to join a team or sign up for a term of classes.
Meanwhile, a new Be Active project will help people with mental health problems in Swindon become more active thanks to an award of £146,911. Swindon and District Mind will offer people in disadvantaged communities exercise class taster sessions and one-to-one support.
Minister for sport Tracey Crouch said: "As sports minister, I want as many people as possible to get active but I also know the powerful social impact sport can have.
“Whether that’s helping to cut crime, making people healthier, or strengthening bonds between people. The projects receiving National Lottery funding today do all of this and more, and I know they’ll be a huge success."
