Consultant: Leisure Futures

The Research:

The Positive Futures programme was launched in March 2000. It is a joint initiative involving a national partnership of Sport England, the United Kingdom Anti-Drugs Coordination Unit and the Youth Justice Board. The intended outcomes of the programme are:

• A reduction of youth offending in the locality of a project;
• A reduction in drug use among 10-16 year olds participating on the schemes; and
• An increase in regular participation in sport and physical activity by 10-16 year olds.

In total there are 24 Positive Futures projects in place across England and 14 other Active Communities projects that will be included in this review.

The aim of this research is to carry out a ‘short and sharp’ review of the sporting and broader social impacts of the Active Communities and Positive Futures projects that will provide evidence of what has been achieved to date, identify good practice, and inform and help to shape future investment decisions in these and related programmes.

The more specific objectives of the research are:

• To provide a report of achievement for each project against its stated objectives relating these as far as possible to Sport England’s evaluation framework and key indicators;
• Based on the evidence available, identify good practice and make practical recommendations on how this can be extended more widely to both existing and future projects;
• To provide a summary report that identifies achievements across the programmes generally using a thematic, issues based approach; and
• To learn lessons and make recommendations that will help to shape Sport England’s longer term approaches to evaluation and impact assessment.

Progress to date: Project completed

Reports:

Positive Futures Summary Report (325 Kb) PDF

Positive Futures Sites Report 2002 (919 Kb) PDF