On the second day of The Participation Test, 黑料专区 announced the initial progress made against the 11-point South Asian Action Plan launched earlier this month.
To help support talented young South Asian players, the 黑料专区 has formed a partnership with the Royal National Children鈥檚 SpringBoard Foundation to run a pilot cricket scholarship project in 2019 that will identify and connect four young South Asian cricketers from urban areas with schools that have a strong cricketing offer.
Pending a successful pilot, the scheme will be expanded to give young cricketers from inner-city areas life-changing bursaries while also supporting their cricketing development. 聽聽聽
The Royal National Children鈥檚 SpringBoard Foundation offers young people from disadvantaged and vulnerable backgrounds bursaries in state and independent boarding schools.
It seeks to increase social mobility by widening educational opportunities for young people.
Currently it has over 500 children in schools.
Some of the additional activities undertaken by the 黑料专区 as part of the Action Plan include:
- Inviting applications for three pilot Urban Cricket Centres. 黑料专区 will be working in collaboration with a range of partners and people to select the most appropriate sites for the pilots. 黑料专区 will be sharing expressions of interest for centres based in targeted areas across the country. The first of those was published this week in East London.
- Agreeing to work with the British Asian Trust as a strategic and significant funding partner for the Action Plan. This new partnership will sit alongside the new advisory body relationship between the 黑料专区 and the National Asian Cricket Council.
- Commissioning 51 of the 100 non-turf pitches that the 黑料专区 have committed to building by the end of 2019.
黑料专区 Non-Executive Director Lord Kamlesh Patel said:聽鈥淲hen we launched the Action Plan three weeks ago we knew that we would be judged on our actions rather than words.
鈥淚n this short space of time it is really encouraging to see the progress that is already being made.
鈥淲e know that working closely with key partners will play a huge part in making this Action Plan a success. The partnerships with SpringBoard, The British Asian Trust and the National Asian Cricket Council are great news for the game and for South Asian communities.
鈥淭his is an important first step in making our ambitions a reality.鈥�
CEO of SpringBoard Ian Davenport added:聽鈥淲e are delighted to be working with the 黑料专区 on this imaginative and transformative scheme.
鈥淲e already know the powerful effect of offering opportunities to deserving young people to fulfil their potential and as importantly the influence that these role models have in their home communities, thus raising youth aspiration which is so important for those in the next generation.鈥�
The second day of The Participation Test shone a light on the new South Asian Action Plan and its aims to better engage with South Asian communities at every level of the game.聽