Levelling the Playing Field exchanged valuable learning with equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) experts from the legal profession over the summer. 

Young people, role models, leaders and dignitaries from across the country were united in celebration at Saturday’s 2023 Levelling the Playing Field National Awards at the Alexander Stadium in Birmingham. 

The Awards highlighted the incredible

On 1 June, the wonderful organisations in Levelling the Playing Field’s network in Newport did what they do best – joined forces to celebrate young people! 

On a

We brought together our West Midlands specialist partners on Saturday 13 May to celebrate the achievement of their young people and role models.

Morgan Mitchell, former Levelling the Playing Field research lead, is running the London Marathon to raise funding for our strategic partners London Sport. She outlines why the LtPF project and running the Marathon, mean so much to her.

Levelling the Playing Field has facilitated anti-racism education for young people and staff in the secure estate by linking up with the charity Show Racism the Red Card. 

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Six role models from Levelling the Playing Field's specialist partners were given the opportunity to represent young people's views at last week’s YJB Youth Justice Leaders’ Summit in Birmingham.

It was an absolute joy to celebrate the achievements of our South Yorkshire partners at the 2023 Levelling the Playing Field Regional Awards in Sheffield on Saturday 11 March....

Young people, leaders, role models and partners came together to celebrate our inaugural Levelling the Playing Field London Regional Awards on Wednesday 1 March at Decathlon in Canada Water.

We’re reaching out to our specialist partners in South Yorkshire to nominate participants, groups of young people and staff members in our 2023 Levelling the Playing Field South Yorkshire Regional Awards!...

Levelling the Playing Field has announced the shortlisted nominees for our 2023 London regional awards! 

Despite huge inequalities remaining, Levelling the Playing Field was pleased to see reductions in the over-representation of ethnically diverse children in the youth justice system in the Youth Justice Board’s

We’re reaching out to our specialist partners in London to nominate participants, groups of young people and staff members in our 2023 Levelling the Playing Field London Regional Awards!...

January is often a time where we set new goals and start new healthy habits, but for some it can be a difficult month to get motivated.

That's why we asked Leeds Rhinos Foundation's Health Improvement Officer, Amy Livingstone, for some tips

Levelling the Playing Field’s specialist partners in London gave glowing feedback after we delivered a two-day Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) course tailored for those working with ethnically diverse children in the community, the secure estate and the youth justice service.

Levelling the Playing Field researcher Hannah Hammond writes about the findings from the project so far - and highlights many crossovers with the seminal 2018 Sporting Chance review into sport in the secure

Levelling the Playing Field project was the subject of the 10^th meeting of the APPG on Sport and Physical Activity in the Criminal Justice System. 

Levelling the Playing Field (LtPF), a £1.7m initiative funded by the London Marathon Charitable Trust, uses the power of sport and physical activity to engage and improve health

Levelling the Playing Field's many successes have been highlighted in an Interim Progress Report compiled by the University of Birmingham, who are externally evaluating the project.

As part of our Women and Girls month in October, we reflect on our trip to the Howard League Conference at Oxford University, where our researcher Hannah Hammond, from the University of Birmingham, and Reahana Gordon, a coach and youth mentor from our specialist partners ...

In this blog, Alliance of Sport COO Justin Coleman and Aspire Sports UK’s tutor/assessor Stuart Bates reflect on the achievements and lessons of delivering the mentoring programme with the Levelling the Playing Field network.

Alison O’Connell MBE has joined the Levelling the Playing Field team as Regional Coordinator to help our West Midlands specialist partners maximise and evidence their impact on young people.

Children, role models and leaders from across the Levelling the Playing Field network came together to celebrate at our inaugural awards at Decathlon’s flagship Surrey Quays store in London.

Levelling the Playing Field has announced the shortlisted nominees for our first ever annual awards!

Levelling the Playing Field has appointed Faisal Eid as our first Regional Coordinator to help specialist partners maximise their impact on ethnically diverse children in the local community.

We want YOU, our Levelling the Playing Field partners, to nominate your outstanding achievers for our first ever annual awards!

As part of our focus on monitoring and evaluation in May, we asked Dr. Craig Corrigan from Sport4Life, our specialist partners in Birmingham, for his top tips.

As we head towards summer, we're encouraging the Levelling the Playing Field network to build sun protection habits into their daily routine by supporting Sunguarding Sport, a new campaign by the Melanoma Fund.

Sithule Mguni, founder of Levelling the Playing Field specialist partners Young Minds Together, has highlighted the plight of refugees who have been sidelined due to the influx of new

Levelling the Playing Field is delighted to announce its first participation and impact data, courtesy of our research team at the University of Birmingham.

As you may know, the project has two common goals:

- Increase the number of ethnically diverse children taking part in sport and physical activity
- Prevent and

One aspect of safeguarding that Levelling the Playing Field specialist partners may overlook is cyber security. For organisations who often hold sensitive information about their beneficiaries, it’s not an area they can afford to ignore.

Funders are increasingly mandating effective data protection within their funding applications,

Levelling the Playing Field has produced a set of posters for our partners which promote the positive impact of the project on children, families and communities. 

Levelling the Playing Field has been the catalyst for a partnership in Newport which brings key people together to support ethnically diverse children most effectively.

As part of our 'Leadership Month', Levelling the Playing Field was privileged to meet Neil Basu, Assistant Commissioner for Special Operations in the Metropolitan Police, and find out about the pleasures and pressures of holding such a senior role.

Levelling the Playing Field is delighted to offer CEOs, project leaders and key management staff in our network of specialist delivery partners the opportunity to take part in a bespoke leadership skills programme.

Levelling the Playing Field is delighted to offer CEOs, project leaders and key management staff in our network of specialist delivery partners the opportunity to take part in a bespoke leadership skills programme.

Pro boxer Joe Maphosa has become an Ambassador for the Levelling the Playing Field project and the Alliance of Sport.

The ‘Impact of COVID-19 on Youth Justice’ research project aims to understand and document the unprecedented implications that the pandemic has had on the youth justice system and the vulnerable children it works with.

Levelling the Playing Field has partnered with prison education provider Novus to offer sport and physical activity opportunities to children in custody and after their release.

As part of Levelling the Playing Field’s ‘Criminal Justice Month’, we asked Jay Shortall, Youth Justice Officer at Sheffield Youth Justice Service, to explain from a practitioner’s viewpoint the process for a young person entering the Youth Justice System, starting from the point of arrest.

As part of our ‘Criminal Justice Month’, we asked the Youth Justice Board’s Programme Manager for Over-Represented Children, Adam Mooney, for his thoughts on Levelling the Playing Field’s potential to achieve lasting, positive change.

We know that children with neurodivergent traits are hugely over-represented in youth justice. As part of LtPF's Neurodiversity Month, we've asked Levelling the Playing Field researcher Morgan Mitchell to look at how sport and physical activity practitioners can best engage those with autism - one of the most common neurodiverse

As part of LtPF's Neurodiversity Month, we've invited Professor Amanda Kirby, CEO of our strategic partners Do-It Solutions, to explain why neurodiversity is so important for those working with children in community sport and criminal justice settings.

Levelling the Playing Field researcher, Morgan Mitchell, assesses some of the findings in the Centre for Justice Innovation’s report, ‘Equal diversion? Racial Disproportionality in Youth Diversion' – and seeks some solutions to the system's racial bias and disproportionality.

‘Valuing Youth Diversion: A toolkit for practitioners’ is an incredibly valuable resource for Levelling the Playing Field delivery partners seeking an evidence base to underpin their work and looking to make a strong case for continued investment.

Welsh rugby stars Leon Brown and Ashton Hewitt have pledged their support for Levelling the Playing Field as ideal role models for our participants in Gwent.

Sports neuroscientist and Levelling the Playing Field researcher, Morgan Mitchell, offers tips for looking after participants' mental health as they return to sport participation following the easing of Covid019 restrictions.

Morgan Mitchell from Levelling the Playing Field’s research team offers a fascinating perspective on the psychology and importance of diversity.

Keith Fraser, Chair of the Youth Justice Board, says a new report supporting the 'Child First' approach to youth justice will open up "exciting opportunities" for the sector. 

Levelling the Playing Field has launched ‘Team Talk’ events to bring our fabulous network of partners together.

As a return to sport and physical activity draws closer, Levelling the Playing Field takes a look at some of the ingenious ideas that our Local Delivery Partners are using to stay connected with children during lockdown. 

Levelling the Playing Field is set to benefit at-risk children in Coventry in a way that organisers of the project could never have foreseen.

The United Kingdom Committee for Unicef (Unicef UK) has praised the "innovative blueprint" offered by Levelling the Playing Field in efforts to tackle over-representation in the Youth Justice System.

Throughout February, we’ll be finding out what mentoring means to you and gaining insights into how our local delivery partners in London, Gwent, the West Midlands and South Yorkshire go about it.

Levelling the Playing Field’s local delivery partners say Sport England's Tackling Inequalities Fund has helped them provide a lifeline for participants through the ravages of Covid-19 lockdowns.

Our Levelling the Playing Field strategic partners, the Black Training and Enterprise Group (BTEG), have produced an Inclusive Employers Toolkit to help businesses increase the recruitment, retention and progression of young black men.

The University of Birmingham is seeking a Part-time Research Fellow (Grade 7) who will join the Monitoring + Evaluation Team in the School of Sport, Exercise & Rehabilitation Sciences currently working on Levelling the Playing Field.

Levelling the Playing Field’s funders have revealed the reasons behind their record £1million grant and highlighted the project’s potential to have “a major impact on social change”.

Local Delivery Partners on our Levelling the Playing Field project are showing great agility and ingenuity to continue engaging with participants during England’s second Covid-19 lockdown.

The National Youth Agency has updated its Covid Guidance after the announcement of a second national lockdown saw the youth sector move to RED in the Readiness Framework.

Darrel Arjoon says “a passion for helping young people” was behind his decision to donate free laptops to all the mentors working on Levelling the Playing Field.

As Levelling the Playing Field gets under way, the project's lead researcher Dr Hannah Baumer outlines our starting point with BAME children's under-representation in sport and physical activity and over-representation in the youth justice system.

Rotherham United Community Sports Trust are set to be the first of our Local Delivery Partners nationwide to start delivering Levelling the Playing Field as part of their weekly sport and physical activity programme. 

The Alliance of Sport in Criminal Justice has secured a grant of £90,048 from Sport England which will be immediately distributed to frontline organisations involved in the Levelling the Playing Field project. 

New figures published by the Youth Justice Board show that the need to address disproportionality in youth justice is more acute than ever.

The Alliance of Sport in Criminal Justice was delighted to see its Levelling the Playing Field project highlighted in the Youth Justice Board’s 2020-21 business plan.

The appointment of Dr. Hannah Baumer has significantly strengthened the University of Birmingham's research team working on the Levelling the Playing Field project.

Levelling the Playing Field has received a major honour after being endorsed by United by Birmingham 2022, the community programme of the Commonwealth Games.