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Empowering young people at risk of social exclusion

The Action Youth Boxing Intervention (AYBI) Real-Talk programme is one of the brilliant local initiatives that Islington Giving’s Young Grant Makers funded in 2020.

 

They provide community-based boxing skills training to young people involving a mixture of non-contact boxing skills and fitness training, with the aims to encourage young people to stay at school, avoid getting involved in criminal or aggressive behaviour, and to take care of their mental and physical wellbeing.

Josh’s story

Josh* had missed a lot of education during the previous two years and felt a lack of confidence with learning. In fact, when he began his boxing sessions with AYBI, he was not engaging with education at all, and was negatively influenced by gangs.

Josh continued engaging with his boxing lessons over a 12-week period, while working with the team to identify his challenges with education and negative influences outside of school.  Together, Josh and the AYBI team created a pathway plan on how to re-engage with education and get back on track.

Thanks to the programme, Josh is now on target to catch up on his schooling by the end of the academic year and is  preparing to pursue a career in electrical engineering. What’s more, Josh is now more aware of his negative behaviour patterns, he is able to have more control and to remove himself from challenging situations.

*Fictional name

More money to empower young people at risk of social exclusion

Thanks to the donations to the Children and Young People’s Appeal, our Young Grant-Makers 2021 will have more money to give out to local groups. Our Young Grant-Makers programme has been running for three years now and funds local projects that make a difference to young people in Islington. Young people who live in Islington get to make those funding decisions, and that’s what makes this programme so special.