A Wolves Foundation project to help improve the lives of people across Wolverhampton has marked its official launch with a special event at Molineux.
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, 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.
“It was great to welcome so many different guests to celebrate the impact of Building Brighter Futures over the last 12 months,” said Will Clowes, Head of Wolves Foundation.
“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.
“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.
“We are very fortunate to be supported both by the Premier League & PFA Community Fund, allowing us to attract investment directly out of the professional game into Wolverhampton, and the City of Wolverhampton Council, to produce such an impactful project which is benefitting so many people across the city.”
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.
“There is also wider physical wellbeing support in areas such as healthy eating, nutrition and oral hygiene.
“Financial support is also adapted to the individual’s needs and involves working with different partners across the city.
“This includes support around energy efficiency with partners like Warmer Homes and LEAP, alongside getting out and about in the community, 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.
“There is so much going on across the city and Building Brighter Futures is trying to increase its impact on people around Wolverhampton.”
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.
There has also been a general improvement in mental wellbeing and resilience to be able to deal with different challenges.
Leader of the City of Wolverhampton Council, Councillor Stephen Simkins said: “As a council we are determined to create better, healthier futures, filled with opportunity for all and that’s why the Building Brighter Futures project was a natural choice for us to partner with Wolves Foundation.
“It embodies the essence of our Financial Wellbeing Strategy, which is all about improving the life chances for our citizens, to help them overcome barriers and to reduce inequality, inequity, and increase resilience so they can take advantage of the many opportunities this great city provides.
“The strategy was developed as a multi-agency approach, working with citizens, partners and stakeholders to focus on the core areas where we need to make the biggest difference. By working together, we will continue to look after our own, as ‘one city’, being creative and ambitious about supporting households.
“Improving physical and mental health and wellbeing can lead to transforming people’s lives and giving them the confidence and ability to achieve their dreams. We want all our residents, no matter what age or background or challenges they face, to believe they can have better, brighter futures and to be able to make it happen.
“This project is already starting to make that a reality and I’m excited to see the full extent of what can be achieved over the next two years.”
Several people who have benefitted from the different strands of Building Brighter Futures were interviewed on stage by Wolves’ presenter Gemma Frith, and Andy McLaren, the Premier League’s Head of Community Development, also spoke to the audience.
Andy said: “Building Brighter Futures is a great example of how a club like Wolves and charity like Wolves Foundation can use investment from the Premier League & PFA Community Fund, to deliver a project which has been driven by local need.
“The team at the Foundation understand the local challenges and opportunities and have developed fantastic partnerships out on the ground to bring the project to life.
“Work that clubs deliver across the country is at the heart of what the Premier League is about – it starts on the pitch and then ripples out with the impact we can have in the community.
“And what is fundamental to the success of that impact is all down to good people who are trusted to deliver in that local community.
“At Wolves Foundation, they have got great people who really understand the areas they are operating in, and become role models to the beneficiaries they are working with, day-in day-out.”
Attendees at the event included all three local MPs – Pat McFadden, who is also the government’s Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Warinder Juss, whose Wolverhampton West constituency covers Molineux, and Sureena Brackenridge.
Refreshments were provided courtesy of cakes prepared by Wolves Head Chef Luke Hitchens and decorated by the Foundation’s Head 4 Health group, including produce from their allotment.
Click here to find out more about Building Brighter Futures.
WHAT THE GUESTS SAID
PAT MCFADDEN – MP WOLVERHAMPTON SOUTH EAST/CHANCELLOR OF THE DUCHY OF LANCASTER
“Building Brighter Futures is just one of so many projects which Wolves Foundation delivers, and I can’t praise them enough for the work which they do in the city.
“They are both a really important part of the city, and of the character of the football club and, as one of the local MPs, I think we are really lucky to have them.
“With Building Brighter Futures in particular, it is one thing to hear about the project in the abstract, but it really comes to life when we hear from the people who have benefitted, as we did at this event.
“When they are talking about how their mental health got better, how their physical wellbeing improved, you can see the difference that it makes.
“Wolverhampton is a fantastic city which, like any other place, has its challenges.
“But something that is a huge part of the city is how people will pull together and look out for each other, and organisations like Wolves Foundation are at the very heart of that.”
WARINDER JUSS MP WOLVERHAMPTON SOUTH WEST
“Building Brighter Futures is an extremely important project which means so much to Wolverhampton.
“As a Wolves Season Ticket Holder, I am a lover of Wolverhampton Wanderers anyway, but to see that it is so much more than a football club, something that is there for the entire community, is what the city is all about.
“Listening to the speeches from the participants was really inspiring and very encouraging, and collaboration is so important.
“To have Wolves Foundation, the Premier League and the City of Wolverhampton Council working together so closely with everybody working for the same purpose – that is how you achieve results.
“I am so proud, humbled and honoured to be the MP for this constituency and feel we have got a wonderful football club with wonderful people which is great to see.”
COUNCILLOR LINDA LEACH – MAYOR OF WOLVERHAMPTON
“Building Brighter Futures is a hugely important project and it is fantastic to get all the different partners together.
“Wolves Foundation, the Premier League and City of Wolverhampton Council are delivering some amazing work for our community and I have never felt so proud to be the Mayor of Wolverhampton.
“Even though I have been a councillor for many years, it was perhaps only since I became Mayor that I have seen just how much Wolves Foundation does for our community and the impact they have on individuals.
“It is important for us all to help spread the word and put Wolves Foundation into people’s minds so they know where they can come for help.
“It can be a safe haven, and we must all help promote all the work that the Foundation does and show that Wolves isn’t just a great football team.”
COUNCILLOR CHRIS BURDEN – CABINET MEMBER FOR CITY DEVELOPMENT, JOBS AND SKILLS
“Molineux Stadium is at the heart of our community, and it is so much more than just a stadium.
“It is about the partnerships that we are building between Wolves Foundation, the City of Wolverhampton Council and the Premier League, to become more involved in people’s lives.
“Building Brighter Futures is about breaking down the barriers of day-to-day life in the city, and getting help to people who need it in a way in which they are comfortable asking for help as well.
“It is so hard to talk about this project, because when people ask, ‘what is it’, it is everything!
“It is about getting people into the workplace, getting people physically active, getting their homes warmer.
“As a politician, when you think about change it is so easy to see things written down on paper.
“But the actual change is to see the lad at this event smiling again, the bloke that has got into work, the lady who is sitting in a warmer home.
“That is the change that makes it real, and shows how the trusted club badge of Wolves, working with the Premier League and the Council, really makes these positive differences.”
