St Matthew's Project

About St Matthew's Project

The St Matthew’s Project (SMP) is one run by the community for the community. What began as a kick-about in Brockwell Park twenty-two years ago is now a thriving youth project, which offers a growing array of programmes and services to over 350 young people each week, meeting the local need for accessible, free and credible sporting activities, employment, training and wellbeing programmes. Coaches are recruited from within the local community and include people who have come through the scheme themselves, who act as inspiring and positive role models to the participants.

Many of our young people face challenges such as poverty, trauma, ACEs, mental health issues and exposure to youth violence. SMP takes a trauma-informed, culturally competent approach to provide young people with a safe space for support and well-being, allowing workers to meet young people ‘where they are at’. Our consistent approach provides participants with a sense of stability in increasingly uncertain times and means that we are trusted by a community often sceptical of ‘projects’ as they have previously been used and let down by so many.

We operate in various locations across our community – on football pitches and estates and in schools. Our ethos centres on the promotion of community cohesion and football is the hook which draws young people in. We then support them to make the transition from sports participation to accessing further sporting, educational or employment opportunities as they get older. Through continued engagement we help young people develop their personal skills and strengths and tackle any challenges. We offer community-led support to young people right up until their mid-twenties, enabling them to make positive life choices and grow into adults who believe in themselves and their community.

Every time a supporter shops online through Voucher Magpie with St Matthew's Project chosen, we donate 50% of the commission the shop pays us to St Matthew's Project, at no extra cost to the shopper.

What they do

• Free Saturday Club football coaching and games in Brockwell Park
• Girls-Only football programme since 2008 and Lambeth Girls' Schools’ Tournaments
• Free estate-based football and multi-sports activities on the Tulse Hill and St. Matthew's Estates
• Free football and food holiday schemes
• Fit 4 Life mental wellbeing programme
• Family Fitness sessions
• A volunteer and FA coaching pathway for young people
• St. Matthew’s FC league teams: U10s-U16s, Seniors and Girls U15s

Information from St Matthew's Project and the Charity Commission register: thesmp.net, localgiving.org, register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk, find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk.