Ending Youth Homelessness Through Football and Corporate Mentoring: Goal 17 - an exciting new social enterprise launched at Manchester United and West Ham Utd on the 17th September 2018

Goal 17 Founders, Fran Boorman and Keith Mabbutt, could be found roaming the streets of Manchester meeting with homeless people in the early hours of the morning on the 17th September. This was the beginning of a 36-hour launch event for an exciting new social enterprise that is predicted to generate £1m turnover in its first year. The trip also included meetings with senior management from Manchester United and West Ham United, homeless charities and ex-England Footballer, Paul Stewart.

About the Social Enterprise:

Goal 17 is partnering with Premiership football clubs across the UK and aims to end youth homelessness by uniting vulnerable young people with corporate executive mentors. The enterprise will deliver an innovative corporate events package that empowers companies to get tangible value from their corporate social responsibility.

Through its partnership with the Street Soccer Foundation, Goal 17 will support the expansive nationwide delivery of a 10-week football academy for homeless 16 to 24 year olds. Mabbutt, a former football player himself, founded the charity in 2015, and has overseen a 100% success record since its inception of getting young participants back into education, employment or training after graduating the course.

Boorman, who also takes up the role as CEO of Goal 17, admits that she had not really been a football fan since Euro 96. However, as a proven entrepreneur, she could see the huge potential of football as a vehicle to unite people from very different backgrounds. Wanting to support the wonderful work of Mabbutt’s Foundation, Boorman developed a commercial concept to access funds that were not previously being diverted into this sector.

The pair of founders, who first met just 90 days before the launch, have developed a corporate ‘away day’ product. It claims to engage and inspire at a deeper level than the traditional company day ‘huddled round a flip chart’. Corporate clients will sponsor a cohort of young people through the Street Soccer programme and will also be invited to Premiership football clubs as part of their experience where they will get to meet those whom they are sponsoring. They will be challenged to deliver part of the first day training and invited to telephone support the young people throughout a mentoring aspect of the nationally acclaimed Academy programme. The interest in this start-up has been significant with many world-renowned football clubs partnering and several large corporate clients wanting to get started.

Quotes

Boorman says: “This experience will not only change the young people, but we expect to see our corporate clients gain equally. They will learn vast amounts about themselves and become more engaged employees with an emotional attachment to the power of good that their company is achieving. The young people will also benefit vastly from their sponsor’s experience and association with people already in the work place.

Being able to do this within the inspiring environment of our football club partner’s stadiums helps level participants from both sides of the programme, supporting everyone in realising that underneath they are all exactly the same, but just have very different circumstances.”

Mabbutt adds: “Our launch event was incredibly eye-opening. Getting under the skin of the ever-increasing homelessness issue was heart wrenching. Seeing the difference between Manchester and London was also very interesting. However, there is a lot of hope and we are confident that we can make a big positive impact on this issue through the power of football.”

Danny Lucas, Executive Chairman & CEO of Lucas UK, who is looking forward to supporting the new enterprise says: “Goal 17 is really powerful, it can make a big difference really quickly. The spin-offs are massive. It’s about improving the situation and turning a negative into a positive. It’s great!”

Notes for Editors

For Editors who want to run a more in-depth feature on the background of Goal 17, the founders, or to obtain pictures, facts and figures and additional client testimonials are invited to visit the official website at: www.goal17.global

Contact:

Fran Boorman, CEO and Co-Founder

fran@goal17.global / 07828 085778

Keith Mabbutt, COO and Co-Founder

keith@goal17.global / 07790 570766


Attached Media


About Goal 17 Ltd

SPORTS LED CORPORATE EVENTS WITH A SOCIAL CONSCIENCE Goal 17 is about embracing the power of sport to connect businesses to a socially-good agenda. At the same time Goal 17 delivers a memorable experience for executives to engage, grow and give back in a rewarding and meaningful way. Our three-part football-themed experience includes opportunities for your team to visit a Premiership Football Club stadium, enjoy lunch with a footballing legend and work together to create empowering sessions for homeless young people participating in The Street Soccer Foundation Programme. Our aim is united and help end youth homelessness through the power of football.


Press Contacts