REDDITCH United FC is looking to ‘open new doors’ to allow the club to make a ‘huge difference to many people’s lives’ through the launch of a new community interest company (CIC).
And the new group, which looks to give more people in the town access to affordable and accessible sports activities and education programmes, is looking for local partners to help ‘deliver change for Redditch.’
‘Redditch United in the Community’, a not-for-profit organisation, will run separately from the main club and will now take control of its schools, community and junior programmes.
The new venture will look to improve the lives of people living in Redditch and the surrounding areas through sport and education.
The new CIC looks to support talented youngsters who have aspirations of a future in sport and it wants to ensure everyone has access to fitness activities.
Over the past year, the club has been trying to expand its support to Redditch through several community programmes.
The club currently has more than 500 junior players in various age groups, while in 2021 it invested in a new education centre that currently houses full-time college-level learning for over 60 students.
Redditch United Chairman David Faulkner told the Standard: “We have been very clear for the town to support us as we have to support the town.
“We’ve been growing our community programmes to ensure we have a positive influence on Redditch in recent years and now we have a separate CIC, we will be able to gain greater access to funding.
“This opens doors and allows us to take our community work to the next level.”
Mr Faulkner added the move would provide greater transparency for how funds were spent in the community.
“We’ve always believed the club’s men’s and women’s first teams should self-fund themselves and be completely separate from our junior programmes – our youth work has never funded on the pitch activity.
“Yes, we’re a football club but with the facilities we’ve got, we’ve got to be more than that and this is the next step in making that happen.”
Email [email protected] to get involved with Redditch United in the Community.
