Kickz is a national programme, coordinated by the Football Foundation. It provides diversionary activities for young people in areas of high deprivation and anti-social behaviour. Kickz aims to reduce levels of crime and anti-social behaviour. It also works to reduce barriers between the police and young people, encourage opportunities for volunteering, education and employment, and increase the number of young people playing, coaching and officiating in sport.
West Bromwich Albion Football Club runs the Kickz project in Sandwell. There are three sessions a week at each of the two venues. Each session lasts for three hours. Over 1,000 young people have registered with the project. There are football sessions but there is also basketball, street dance, and music and arts workshops. There are educational sessions on healthy lifestyles and the dangers of drugs and alcohol.
All Kickz projects use a common monitoring and evaluation tool, Substance Project Reporting System (SPRS). SPRS builds on case records for each attendee. The records chart involvement and progress. The system collects both qualitative and quantitative data. It generates project reports for funders or other interested stakeholders. The information in SPRS includes:
- people starting, involved in, and stopping the project
- age, gender, ethnicity, and disability profiles
- source of referrals
- session and attendance data
- partner agencies involved, their contribution to the project and their views on project effectiveness
SPRS evaluations cover:
- assessment of levels of engagement with the project
- outcome data - for example qualifications gained, volunteering completed
- case studies - of progress for individual young people, photos, music recordings
The local police provide background data on incidences of anti-social behaviour since the project started.
Project staff are positive about SPRS. They say it is easy to use. A major benefit of the SPRS is the instant access to statistics and information about the project.
The two programmes in Sandwell cost £80,000 a year. Funding comes from the Football Foundation, West Midlands Police, and Sandwell’s community safety team.
Over 200 young people actively engage with the projects at a time. The local police report a 50 per cent fall in anti-social behaviour in some of the areas where the project runs.
In 2007, young people at the project presented a successful bid to the Youth Opportunity Fund and secured £3,000 for music mixing and rapping equipment.