Ambition (formerly known as Clubs for Young People) is a registered charity whose members are youth organisations in cities, counties and countries throughout the UK. Through its network, Ambition works with more than 3,500 organisations, supporting over 350,000 young people. In 2017, it merged with the charity UK Youth. Ambition works directly with its member organisations to help facilitate the delivery of quality of youth services, and also influences national and local government to support youth clubs. The current Chief Executive is Marie Hammer.
Ambition is a major voluntary youth organisation in the UK, promoting the importance of quality youth clubs.
History
Ambition was founded on 24 October 1925 as the National Association of Boys' Clubs (NABC) in order to consolidate the Boys' and Lads' Club movement which had been growing steadily since the latter quarter of the 19th century.[1] At the time the vast majority of boys left formal education at the age of 14 and began life in employment. To many boys the street was the only place available to socialize once they had finished work, which became seen as a social problem. The boys' club movement therefore aimed to provide these working class boys with a place to socialize and have access to positive activities in their leisure time.[2]
Once founded, the NABC grew rapidly. Within a year, five local federations were affiliated bringing 262 boys' clubs with them while an additional thirty-three clubs were affiliated directly with the NABC. By 1928, fifteen local federations with 715 clubs had affiliated with 71 further clubs joining directly and by 1930, 17 federations were affiliated and 944 clubs, 107 of which were directly. More than half of the federations which were affiliated by 1930 had not previously existed.[3]
At the 1930 NABC conference, the Principles and Aims of the Boys Club Movement was accepted by the organization as the official doctrine of the Boys' Club movement and popularly became known as "the NABC Bible". The document set out the purpose, programme, policy and philosophy of the National Association.[4]
National Association of Boys' Club continued through the Second World War and contributed towards the war effort. During the war, many boys' clubs had to alter the practices and the activities they provided. Many helped the war effort with new activities such as cultivating fallow ground, providing canteens for local soldiers, digging shelters and helping evacuated school children. Many youth clubs opened their premises as makeshift schools during the day. Boys clubs' also helped children evacuate from the cities during the war to settle into their new homes and make friends.[5]
In 1992, NABC officially changed its name to NABC-Clubs for Young People, to reflect that its clubs were no longer just for boys. In 1999, this changed again to the National Association of Clubs for Young People and in 2005 to Clubs for Young People. In 2012, the charity's name became Ambition.[6]
Network structure
Ambition's network consists of community-based member clubs who work with young people directly, and city and county organizations that provide locally tailored support to youth clubs and projects on a daily basis. Its national office, as well as providing national representation, advocacy and resources, offers specialist capacity-building through regional teams. Its regional teams are split into two geographical areas, north and south. Working within Ambition's network are an estimated 30,000 volunteers, within 3,500 youth clubs that help over 350,000 young people.[7]
Areas of work
Healthy Lifestyles
The healthy lifestyles programme focuses on the role youth clubs can play in the promotion of good physical, mental and environmental health. The sports programme, which tries to foster greater participation of girls, covers a range of sports including table tennis, football and boxing. Since the late 1940s, Ambition has coordinated an annual 5-a-side football tournament involving its member clubs. The tournament was previously sponsored by Gillette in one of the longest running charity and corporate partnerships. The charity also runs and annual boxing championship.
Ambition’s Somewhere to Talk – Someone to Listen project, led by Young Devon, aimed to enhance the supported youth clubs provide to the mental health and wellbeing of children and young people who access their services.
Creative Arts
The creative arts programme increases the opportunities for young people to access the arts through media which include music and photography. In 2011, Ambition ran the Bigger Picture photography competition. Young photographers entered with pictures showing life at their book club or what life might look like without youth clubs. The competition was judged by photographers Rankin and Paul Sanders, and then picture editor at The Times, Rory Linsdsay. It was run in partnership with UK Youth and supported by Nokia.
Enterprise
The Enterprising Ambition programme helps young people built up their skills to kind work and set up a business. Funded through the RBS Inspiring Enterprise Initiative, the programme was piloted from January 2012 before being rolled out nationally. The programme is supported by Young Apprentice finalist Lizzie Magee.
Ambition supports the annual PhoneBrain competition, run by Ambition's partner PhonepayPlus.
Leadership and Training
Ambition’s Leadership programme provides training for aspiring and experienced young leaders. They support and deliver courses that help young people gain leadership qualifications.
Ambition is part of a consortium, led by Catch22, helping to run the National Citizen Service (NCS). As part of the consortium, Ambition has helped over 1,500 young people complete their NCS.
In October 2012, Ambition began pioneering the Lions Quest Skills for Adolescence scheme in the UK.
Ambition Quality
Ambition developed a standard to judge the quality of youth service based on the experiences if Ambition, London Youth and Youth options.
Ambition Quality is aimed specifically at youth clubs, projects and sports clubs who can achieve a Bronze, Silver or Gold Award. Designed specifically for youth infrastructure organizations, Ambition Quality has two standards: excellence practice for membership organizations and excellence practice in supporting other youth organizations.
Notable associated people
Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester – Became president of the NABC a year into its life in 1926. The Duke was not merely a figurehead but was active in his work for clubs.
Clement Attlee – Was a youth club leader in the East End of London for fourteen years before going into politics. Following his political retirement Attlee became a vice-president of the NABC and remained an active supporter throughout his life.[8][9]
Frankie Vaughan - Vaughn was a member of the Lancaster Lads' Club in his youth and throughout his life and career was an enthusiastic supporter of the NABC, visiting clubs around the country and donating the proceeds from one of his songs every year.[10]
Roger Bannister – The first man to run a mile in under four minutes was an active NABC supporter and used his medical expertise as chairman of an NABC technical panel advising on physical recreation and health.
Woodcraft Folk is a UK-based educational movement for children and young people. Founded in 1925 and grown by volunteers, it has been a registered charity since 1965 and a registered company limited by guarantee since 2012. The constitutional object of this youth organisation is "to educate and empower young people to be able to participate actively in society, improving their lives and others' through active citizenship."
Scouts UK (also known as The Scout Association) is the largest Scout organisation in the United Kingdom. It's the World Organization of the Scout Movement's recognised member for the United Kingdom.
The history of youth work goes back to the birth of the Industrial Revolution in the 18th century, which was the first time that young men left their own homes and cottage industries to migrate to the big towns. The result of this migration was an emergent youth culture in urban areas, which was responded to by the efforts of local people.
The Duke of Edinburgh's Award is a youth awards programme founded in the United Kingdom in 1956 by the Duke of Edinburgh, which has since expanded to 144 nations. The awards recognise adolescents and young adults for completing a series of self-improvement exercises modelled on Kurt Hahn's solutions to his "Six Declines of Modern Youth".
The Prince's Trust is a United Kingdom-based charity founded in 1976 by King Charles III to help vulnerable young people get their lives on track. It supports 11-to-30-year-olds who are unemployed or struggling at school and at risk of exclusion. Many of the young people helped by the trust face issues such as homelessness, disability, mental health problems, or trouble with the law.
The JLGB is a national Jewish youth organisation based in and primarily serving the United Kingdom. The UK's oldest Jewish youth movement, it was founded in 1895 as the Jewish Lads' Brigade by Colonel Albert E. W. Goldsmid, a senior army officer, to provide an interest for children of the many poor immigrant families who were coming into England at that time. The first company was launched in London's East End but others soon appeared throughout the city and the provinces. The movement later spread as far as South Africa and Canada.
A Zionist youth movement is an organization formed for Jewish children and adolescents for educational, social, and ideological development, including a belief in Jewish nationalism as represented in the State of Israel. Youth leaders in modern youth movements use informal education approaches to educate toward the movement's ideological goals.
Rover Scouts, Rovers, Rover Scouting or Rovering is a program associated with some Scouting organizations for adult men and women. A group of Rovers is called a 'Rover Crew'.
Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) is the name of a number of autonomous pressure groups (charities) in the anglosphere that seek to publicize the risks associated with tobacco smoking and campaign for greater restrictions on use and on cigarette and tobacco sales.
The British Youth Council, known informally as BYC, is a UK charity that works to empower young people and promote their interests. The national charity, run by young people, exists to represent the views of young people to government and decision-makers at a local, national, European and international level; and to promote the increased participation of young people in society and public life. It is partly funded by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and UK Parliament.
UK Youth is a national youth work charity founded in 1911 that delivers national programmes to provide opportunities to young people. The charity is an umbrella body with 40 local youth associations from across England. UK Youth's national programmes are delivered locally in partnership with its members, and many are supported by corporate partners.
London Youth is a youth organisation in London. The charity supports the contribution of community-based youth clubs and youth workers, providing them with information, advice, and a wide range of accredited training.
Catch22 is a social business, a not for profit business with a social mission which operates in the United Kingdom. Catch22 can trace its roots back 229 years, to the formation of The Philanthropic Society in 1788. Catch22 designs and delivers services that build resilience and aspiration in people and communities.
The National Citizen Service (NCS) is a voluntary personal and social development program for 16–17 year olds in England funded largely by money from the UK Government. It was founded in 2009 and formally announced in 2010 by Prime Minister David Cameron as part of the Conservative–Liberal Democrat coalition government's Big Society initiative, and it was launched in England in 2011. After the 2015 general election, the programme was continued under the Conservative government. In October 2016 Cameron, who had resigned as Prime Minister, became chairman of the NCS Trust's patrons' board. The scheme was made permanent through the National Citizen Service Act 2017.With cross-party support, NCS became a Royal Charter Body in 2018.
The National Council for Voluntary Youth Services (NCVYS) was a membership network of over 200 voluntary and community organisations, as well as local and regional networks, that work with and for young people across England. The organisation closed in 2016. For 80 years, NCVYS acted as an independent voice of the voluntary and community youth sector, working to inform and influence public policy, supporting members to improve the quality of their work, and also raising the profile of the voluntary and community sector's work with young people.
Boys and Girls Clubs of Wales is a national youth work organisation ; which offers support and assistance to youth throughout the most deprived areas of Wales. Founded in 1922, the charity first began as a Boys Club in Treharris as a place for young males to retreat for leisure and education after working in the coal mines. Since then, Boys and Girls Clubs of Wales has expanded throughout all of Wales, offering opportunities to both boys and girls aged 11 to 25 years.
There are many national organisations in the United Kingdom that have been established to provide services to people under the age of 18.
Pan is an intercultural arts organization and registered charity based in London, UK, that uses the arts to explore cultural diversity and social change. The main purpose of the organization is to help marginalised young people from all cultures and religions who are at risk of social exclusion to improve personal and interpersonal skills through a range of arts activities including drama, music, film, dance, creative writing and visual arts.
References
↑ "History of the Boys' Club Movement' from The Boy – A Magazine Devoted to the Welfare of Boys, Vol. XII. No. 3, London, 1939.
↑ Principles and Aims of the Boys' Club Movement, London, 1930.
↑ Eagar, W.McG, Making Men – The History of Boys' Clubs and Related Movements in Great Britain, London, 1953.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
