Entitled ‘PlayZones’, the new spaces aim to uplift the physical and mental health of young people, by providing access to free recreational football and CITC’s youth-led sessions.
‘PlayZones’ are purpose built recreational areas, with multi-functional football equipment including various sized football pitches and goals, football tennis zones, passing squares, benches, and floodlights.
The two newly refurbished spaces are located in existing parks council-owned parks at Newton Heath and Withington; both funded by:
- The Premier League, The Football Association and Government via the Football Foundation
- City Football Group
- Sport England
CITC held its first community session at Scotland Hall Road in Newton Heath, with appearances from Steph Houghton and Joleon Lescott.
Commenting on the day, Head of City in the Community, Michael Geary, said: “We are delighted to see both of our new PlayZones complete, after the project was first conceptualised four years ago.
“City in the Community delivers thousands of hours of free community football sessions for young people in Manchester each year, but this new PlayZones initiative aims to break down barriers which exist for many people when accessing informal, recreational football.
“By creating free spaces for people of all abilities, we hope that local people can connect through sport, without fear of judgement or safety, all year round.”
The opening of CITC’s new PlayZones comes just days after the charity launched a new fundraising initiative, Healthy Goals, which commits to creating more community football spaces across Greater Manchester.
Funds raised will uplift the physical and mental health of local young people by creating new community football pitches in Manchester, where the charity’s youth led programmes will be delivered.
Manchester City is matching all donations to the Healthy Goals initiative made before the fundraising window closes in September 2023.
Fans can play their part by donating through City in the Community’s new text-to-donate service** or via https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/healthygoals:
Text HEALTHY to 70201 to give £1.
Text HEALTHY to 70331 to give £3.
Text HEALTHY to 70970 to give £5.
Text HEALTHY to 70191 to give £10.
City in the Community, Manchester City’s charity, empowers healthier lives with Manchester youth through football. To find out more about its work, visit www.mancity.com/CITC.
For more information about the Healthy Goals initiative, including a FAQs document, visit www.mancity.com/HealthyGoals.
*Overall, City Football Group will contribute a maximum of £125,000 (GBP) to City in the Community through this campaign or £500,000 (GBP) in total for all City Football Group affiliated charities participating in the campaign (whichever comes first).
**Fundraising, payments and donations will be processed and administered by the National Funding Scheme, operating as DONATE, a charity registered in England and Wales (1149800) and Scotland (SC045106). In addition to any text donation, you will incur your standard network message charge (based on your service provider rates). For Terms & Conditions, see www.easydonate.org
