Fbb Launches Youth Programme After Paypal Campaign

12 Feb 2021 | tshego

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Football Beyond Borders (FBB) has created a new flagship programme which will aim to create opportunities for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds and who are at significant risk of becoming NEET (not in education, employment or training).

The Participant to CEO graduate programme will see an initial 14 young people gain new qualifications, skills and mentoring, as well as paid employment from FBB itself, and was made possible by an earlier campaign from PayPal, Football Beyond Borders and The FA, which raised funds for the new programme.

Following on from the successful ‘Give the Gift of Football’ campaign with Nike in 2019 – which saw PayPal raise £100,000 for FBB – the pair teamed up again, this time with the support of the Lionesses. The 2020 campaign, which ran over the Christmas period, promoted PayPal’s new ‘Give at Checkout’ product, allowing users to donate to charity seamlessly when paying for other things, as well as promoting unsung heroes who go above and beyond.

A host of England internationals, including Steph Houghton, Fran Kirby, Beth Mead and Ellie Roebuck reflected on key figures in their life, who have gone the extra mile and helped get them to where they are today. The film then focused on the story of Petal Harty, a young girl who Football Beyond Borders supported during lockdown with a new laptop, which enabled her to take part in an online art programme.

“We are committed to developing the next set of inspirational leaders from within the FBB community with a focus on female graduates for our girls programme,” said Kelvyn Quagraine, Communications and Partnerships Manager, FBB.

“We’re very grateful to PayPal for this donation and will use the funds raised to help empower authentic community-based role models with the skills necessary to support their communities through paid employment at FBB, training by our Head of Programmes, two Accredited Qualifications – Youth work, coaching, and counselling, and mentorship from an external partner.”

FBB says it has identified that 11.5% of young people aged 16-24 across the country are NEET, while that number rises to 13.6% for those who identify as black, and to 16% for those from Pakistani backgrounds.