USA Community Campus
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USA Community Campus
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The Youth Charter's Sport for Development and Peace work in USA started in 1994 with the Spirit of Hulme and Moss Side tour to Los Angeles, in partnership LA84 Foundation and Amateur Athletics Foundation legacy programmes of the LA 1984 Olympic Games. This tour reciprocated the Youth Charter hosting an LA tour group in Manchester in 1993.
The Anglo-American youth initiative was advanced further when in 2006 the Youth Charter hosted the Muhammad Ali Scholars Tour Group from the University of Louisville during the UK leg of their global trip. Another tour group was hosted in 2010 with our American friends meeting with young people from across the North West of England and then taking part in a London 2012 Olympic Legacy conference organised by the University of Roehampton. The Youth Charter now has an established relationship with the Muhammad Ali Centre in Louisville and has participated in two Muhammad Ali Humanitarian Awards, delivered Float Like a Butterfly Social Coach Leadership Programme workshops in Louisville, Manchester and London, and started the development of a Smoke Town Community Campus in Louisville.
Smoke Town Community Campus: Float Like a Butterfly Social Coach Leadership Programme
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The Float Like A Butterfly Social Coach Leadership Program (FLAB SCLP) is the culmination of the Youth Charter’s ten-year partnership with the Muhammad Ali Institute and Center and provides a program of opportunity for all through the life, times and legacy of the Greatest sporting humanitarian, Muhammad Ali. The Muhammad Ali 6 Core Principles are at the very heart and essence of the personal and professional characteristics that determine the Social Coaches commitment of engaging, equipping and empowering young people and communities. The aim of this #alilegacyopportunity4all is to build on the footprint of Muhammad Ali in promoting an ambitious global program of FLAB Social Coaches that will be selected, recruited and deployed across all five continents.
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The Float Like A Butterfly Social Coach Leadership Program Louisville workshop provided a diverse range of personal and professional life experiences that reflect the ‘fast track’ module that we have prepared for individuals already working with the philosophy, mission, aims, objectives and values of the program. This was evident with our final community engagement visit, which again exposed us to the challenges and opportunities in delivering a sustainable multi-agency network of support for the local stakeholder delivery partners we met with and spoke to. From basketball coaches selling soda pop to fund a local team’s basketball uniforms to the neighbour who repairs bicycles from local community police officers for the young people in the community. There was clearly much going on that simply needed to be coordinated in a more impactful and sustainable way.
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The Youth Charter was hosted during its four day engagement with the Smoketown community by Councillor and Muhammad Ali Board Member, Barbara Sexton-Smith. Cllr Sexton-Smith’s dynamic and engaging commitment to all of her constituents was clear to see, witness and experience. This allowed the Youth Charter to gain a real life insight to the day-to-day challenges experienced by a community of historic deprivation.
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The Youth Charter was also hosted by the Chief of Police of Louisville, Steve Conrad, who, along with 7 of his most senior officers and Councillor Barbara Sexton-Smith, engaged with the community as part of their continued commitment to a safer and healthier neighbourhoods.
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To develop cross-sector support for a Smoke Town Community Campus, the Muhammad Ali Center invited Louisville Private, Public and Third Sector organisations to attend a special event: “Violence Prevention Programs - Why They’re Not Working: a View from Manchester to Louisville”. The event saw the Youth Charter, Founder and Executive Chair, Geoff Thompson, deliver a high-level discussion with key stakeholders on how the life and legacy of Muhammad Ali can be translated into tools for community-building and violence prevention.
The Youth Charter hosted Mayor of Louisville, Greg Fisher, during a visit East London, as part of the ongoing Anglo-American relationship.
“My heartfelt congratulations to you for your extraordinary stewardship of the Youth Charter for over twenty wonderful years. You have provided opportunities for young people to understand the world nearby and beyond the geographic borders of our nations. These young people now see the world of possibilities that await when an opportunity to achieve is offered. I am proud to have been there at the start!”
““Just as Officer Joe Martin helped to change the course of young Cassius Clay’s life, we have found that a strong Social Coach equipped with comprehensive resources and curricula materials based on Muhammad Ali’s 6 Core Principles can interrupt cycles of disaffection and hopelessness that lead to violence within our communities. The Muhammad Ali Center and Youth Charter are fortified in our resolve to grow the Float Like a Butterfly Social Coach Leadership Program and to expand the reach of Muhammad Ali’s legacy into communities globally.”
Donald E. Lassere, former President and CEO, Muhammad Ali Centre
