Paul Berry provides the latest news from the Wolves Foundation: Partnership combines towards building brighter futures

Building Brighter Futures, delivered thanks to substantial funding from the Premier League & PFA Community Fund and City of Wolverhampton Council, aims to enhance physical health and wellbeing, financial wellbeing and increase employability across the city.

Various dignitaries including all three Wolverhampton MPs – Pat McFadden, Warinder Juss and Sureena Brackenridge -  the Mayor, Councillor Linda Leach, and representatives from the City of Wolverhampton Council and Premier League joined other guests, Foundation staff, and people who have benefitted from the project across its first year at an event staged at Molineux.

“We are in a really privileged position at Wolves Foundation to use the power of professional football to create positive impacts in our local communities,” said Will Clowes, Head of Wolves Foundation.

“Building Brighter Futures is a perfect example of being able to use that power, and the benefit of partnerships, to work closely and deliver on specific needs which are all based around local priorities.”

Rachel Smith, the Foundation’s Head of Programmes for Health Improvement & Community Sport, explains more about Building Brighter Futures.

“Building Brighter Future is split into three different strands – physical activity and physical wellbeing, financial wellbeing and employability support,” she explains.

“With physical activity, we engage with adults aged between 18 and 80 on a weekly basis including walking cricket, badminton, seated exercise and tailored sessions for people with Type 2 diabetes.

“Financial support is also adapted to the individual’s needs and involves working with different partners across the city, finding out what people need and how we can help whether via the Foundation or by signposting on to partners.

“On the employability side, the project offers tailored support such as mock interviews and CV skills, alongside rolling programmes for Over-50s to learn digital literacy and neurodivergent projects trying to break down barriers for people who are trying to get into work.”

With the first year of the three-year project now completed, almost 500 individuals have benefitted from Building Brighter Futures with a diverse balance across gender and ethnicity, over 40 people have been supported through qualifications and 18 have moved into full-time work.

McFadden, not only a long-serving local MP but also Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster with the government, said: “A huge part of Wolverhampton is how people will pull together and look out for each other, and organisations like Wolves Foundation are at the very heart of that.”