Giving Back
With 45% of children in Manchester growing up in poverty (according to the 2019 End Child Poverty report), the work of the City in the Community (CITC) Foundation is essential for underserved communities on our doorstep.
Over the course of the last three seasons, the charity has doubled its funding, engaged an additional 5,000 young people and more than tripled contact hours to an extraordinary 800,000 hours.
CITC now works with children from age two right up to adulthood. At the youngest end, CITC staff work in 188 nurseries across Greater Manchester on physical literacy and fundamental movements and continue right through every stage of school. In September 2018, a Community Coaching degree was launched in partnership with Manchester Metropolitan University. Men over 50 have participated in CITC’s Walking Football programme since 2016, and this year we launched a women-only session for the first time. We also launched a new disability programme, 'Dwarfism football', as part of the 10-year anniversary of One City.
It is not just players and fans who recognise the incredible work of the charity’s 105 staff. In 2018-19, CITC won “Leading Organisation Making a Difference in the Community” at This is Manchester Awards and received a commendation from The High Sheriff of Greater Manchester, Dr Robina Shah, for their dedication and commitment to the local community. To further support their efforts, club partner Nissan donated six brand new minibuses to CITC.
Manchester City’s global community work also continues to grow, providing funding and training to youth-led community football projects in 20 cities around the world. Since 2014, over 1,000 Young Leaders have been trained, and they have in turn engaged over 30,000 children and young people in projects tackling health, education and inclusion.
Fans continue to play an active role in our community work, with almost two million votes cast in the annual Cityzens Giving campaign. For the first time, six City fans from around the world were also given a unique opportunity to volunteer at a Cityzens Giving project in Bangalore. Using the expertise of Manchester City’s water technology partner, Xylem, they built two clean water towers, providing long-term, sustainable access to clean water for up to 1,000 people in the surrounding community.
