A Year in Review - How Passion led us to Celebrate our 1st Anniversary
Forming a Community Interest Company had been a desire of ours for quite some time; we were looking for an opportunity to give back to the sector we are so passionate about and support the drive to address some of the inequalities which provide barriers to health and physical activity for so many people.
When we finally launched Future Active Workforce in February 2020, we never could have dreamed that the first project we would secure would be so significant to the sector.
Fast forward twelve months and as we celebrate our first birthday, we wanted to take a moment to reflect on all that we have accomplished in such a short amount of time, and look forward to what we hope to achieve as Future Active Workforce CIC enters its second year.
Covid-19 and ReActivate – Bringing the Industry Together
The last twelve months have been a trying time for our sector with the forced closure of gyms, leisure centres, sports clubs and many community-based activity groups; the impact on our sector has been, and continues to be, nothing short of devastating. From the very beginning of the pandemic, it became apparent that the challenges of reopening would be vast. Not only would there be the increased cleaning requirements, social distancing and limited capacity impacts to consider, but also the need to instil confidence from members of the public in the staff, coaches and volunteers involved in leading exercise and physical activity.
Following the release of a tender from the Chartered Institute (CIMSPA) we created a consortium of partners to apply for a project to provide guidance, training and support for the reopening of the sector post-lockdown. We were successful in our bid for this work, funded by Sport England, and began work on our online learning platform ‘ReActivate’ which would be made available, free of charge, for twelve months to all individuals, volunteers and facilities and would be loaded with relevant content which is regularly updated to meet with government guidelines and ukactive advice.
Despite only launching Future Active Workforce months previously, our underlying mission was to contribute to an inclusive, active and informed workforce, so this project aligned very well with our goal; in addition, we take every opportunity to work collaboratively with other organisations so working with our partners at GM Active, Sport Structures, Right Directions, Future Fit Training and Transcend Awards resulted in high quality content for the platform, written by sector experts.
We have been delighted with the sector's response to the ReActivate platform and have added further content based on the feedback received.
So far, over 20,000 individual users are using the training programme, and over 600 sport and leisure facilities and National Governing Bodies are benefitting from the wealth of information provided on topics including refresher training, resources to keep staff engaged and supported during the lockdown and Covid-specific training.
"At a time of unprecedented upheaval across the country, ReActivate showcases the very best in collaborative working in our sector, giving anyone who needs it the ability to return to their sport and physical activity roles with confidence"
Elaine Briggs, Future Active Workforce Managing Director.
After Such an extraordinary Year…What Next?
We feel very proud of what we have achieved in our 1st year, but we know there is a lot more work to do if we are to realise our aims of championing an inclusive, active and informed workforce, to overcome inequalities and tackling inactivity in underrepresented groups and to enhance and improve the learning and development of the health and physical activity sector.
We look forward to another year of working collaboratively, breaking down barriers, overcoming challenges and engaging with organisations and individuals to work towards a more inclusive and active society. Keep your eyes peeled for our strategy, which we will share over the coming weeks.
A birthday present from us
Reflecting on the last year has highlighted just how difficult the restrictions have been for us all as we navigate the challenges of lockdown, working from home, home-schooling and missing our friends and family.
As a team, we've been thinking about the healthy habits we’ve adopted to help keep us on track. Here are some of our favourites.
Getting out of the house every day, sometimes with family or sometimes alone
Trying to exercise daily
Walking meetings
Using flight mode on our mobiles after 9 pm
Making time for creative hobbies (drawing/photography/henna tattooing)
Scheduling time to speak with friends and family regularly
The challenges of lockdown have had a considerable impact on the mental health of the nation. So, to celebrate our first birthday, we would like to gift you a free online course in Understanding Mental Wellbeing, in partnership with Future Fit Training. In the spirit of championing wellness, we hope this course equips you with the skills to understand and support each other
If you would like to take advantage of this gift, please share with us what healthy habits you and your family have formed in the last year to keep yourself motivated and on track using the form below and we will send your log-in details for this free course.