July 7, 2014 – Newham All Star Sports Academy (NASSA) has received further recognition for its work by being shortlisted for the National Lottery Awards 2014. We have been recognised in the Best Sports Project category for which the winner will being decided by a public vote.
The prize is funding. In NASSA’s case, this would allow us to continue the fantastic work we have been doing in making a difference to the lives of young people in Newham by providing them with an opportunity to play basketball and to stay away from all of the negative distractions that exist in disadvantaged communities. This work saw us named as overall Charity of the Year in The Charity Awards 2014. It is also why our Carry A Basketball Not A Blade (CABNAB) initiative has been shortlisted in the National Lottery Awards.
In total, 11 young people lost their lives to knife crime in the London Borough of Newham alone in the 12 months up to August 2103.
The mentoring talks NASSA coaches give to 2,000 local schoolchildren each week during the extra-curricular basketball sessions we provide as well as to our 538 club members are helping to ensure this number is not higher. In 2013 NASSA, through CABNAB, contributed to a 46% reduction in serious youth violence and knife-related crime in Newham, but clearly there is still more work to be done.
Please help us to do this work by voting for us. Here is the link to the National Lottery Awards website so that you can vote for CABNAB:
http://www.lotterygoodcauses.org.uk/awards/sports
You are allowed to vote once per email address, so if you have two email addresses, why not vote for us twice! Voting ends next Wednesday July 23, 2014. Feel free to tweet about it, too, and ask others to vote for us. @NASSAsports
