Today Nissan is joining UEFA Foundation for Children and streetfootballworld to support grassroots organisations Sport dans la Ville in France and Street League in the United Kingdom.
Street league (Photo: Paul Chappells)
Part of its mission to create a “cleaner, safer, fairer” world, Nissan is addressing the issue of the roughly 7 million young people (15-24) in Europe that are Not in Education, Employment and Training (NEETs).
In the beginning of February 2018, the two-year partnerships in France and the UK are aligned with activities run by the Nissan Skills Foundation in the UK, which seek to encourage the next generation of talent in design, engineering and manufacturing sectors.
Stuart Jackson, VP Brand & Communications for Nissan Europe said: “At Nissan we believe in creating a cleaner, safer, fairer society through the power of our people and our products. As an official UEFA Champions League partner, we are now looking to harness the power of football to create a fairer society and brighten the futures of young people across Europe.”
Street League (Photo: UEFA)
Chairman of the UEFA Foundation for Children and UEFA president, Aleksander Čeferin, said: “Improving the employment prospects of underprivileged young people in Europe is a huge challenge for us as a society. We welcome this new partnership with official UEFA Champions League sponsor Nissan Europe, who recognise its responsibility in society and lives up to this by investing in the communities they operate in to increase youth employability.”
“Football has a proven ability to bring people together and change lives,” commented streetfootballworld Partnership Director, Johannes Axster. “We’re grateful that Nissan recognises the potential for football-based social development programmes to empower young people in disadvantaged communities, while also providing Nissan employees with the opportunity to get engaged in meaningful activities in France and the UK.”
UK organisation Street League’s vision is to see an end to youth unemployment. Nissan will support “Academy” programmes in the London and Tees Valley areas, which work with 20 young people at any one time over a 10-week period. In 2017 alone, Street League lifted 1,731 young people into employment, education or training. “Street League are delighted to be working in partnership with Nissan to help even more young people find a positive future using the power of sport,” said Matt Stevenson-Dodd, Chief Executive Street League. “Our Academies do this by offering a mixture of employability sessions, sporting activities and life skills development.”
Sport dans la Ville is France’s leading non-profit association, serving disadvantaged boys and girls aged 6-25 by offering sports and job-readiness training. Through its “Job dans la Ville” programme, the organisation provides individual careers support, mentoring, work experience, and skill-building workshops. In 2017, a total of 1054 youths participated in the Job dans la Ville programme across France, with 73% of participants subsequently attaining a job or position on an education programme.
“Thanks to our partnership with Nissan and the UEFA Foundation for Children, we will be able to amplify our actions in the Paris area to help even more youth in their social and professional integration,” said Elise Curioni, Directrice Partenariats Ile-de-France, Sport dans la Ville.
Report courtesy of UEFA Foundation for Children
