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Prince & Princess of Wales

Prince William up for day of engagements in Birmingham

On Monday 7 December, The Duke of Cambridge will be visiting Birmingham for a busy day of events.

Each year since 2013 The Duke has visited the city for various organisations that focus on bringing diverse communities together and support the youth who are in vulnerable positions.

This time around, Prince William will be visiting organisations including The Football for Peace initiative at Saltley Academyand The Diana Award at Bournville College. He will also make a stop at St Basils.

The Football for Peace initiative at Saltley Academy brings children from different cultures together through football across Birmingham. Football for Peace (FfP Global) is a global project that works with marginalised communities across the globe.

Prince William will view many matches organised by Football for Peace Ambassadors from schools in east Birmingham. He will also speak with Head Teachers of the schools and representatives of Football for Peace before he presents certificates to the students who have completed the programme.

FfP Global is a pilot project, supported by Birmingham City Council that brings together youth from different backgrounds, schools and cultures, using football as a vehicle to improve dialogue between all.

The programme involves seven schools in east Birmingham, including Saltley Academy and works with students since September with workshops on topics such as Equality Diversity and Inclusion, a Leaders course, and Community Engagement.

FfP Global uses Football as an international language to influence social change and understanding.

The Duke will also hear how The Diana Award at Bournville College’s anti-bulling campaign is assisting young people with their own issues of difference and diversity, tackling diversity as a root cause of bullying.

Prince William’s recent work with the Diana Award was bringing to light how bullying affects a child’s mental health. The focus of this visit will highlight the message of “we are all different, but together we are one.”

As part of the programme, young people take part in workshops examining issues such as feeling safe and diversity. By the end of the day, the young anti-bulling ambassadors, supported by Diana Award holders, will be able to have the ability to set up a year-long social action project in their communities that create a safer, bully-free environment which celebrates diversity.

This initiative was created by the recent research released by the Diana Award that revealed a quarter of youth don’t feel safe at school.

There are over 16,000 Anti-Bullying Ambassadors who have been trained in 3,000 school across the UK and Ireland by The Diana Award.

Created in memory of William’s mother Diana, Princess of Wales, The Diana Award keeps her belief that young people have the power to change the world for the better alive.

Later in the day, Prince William will visit St. Basils. William has visited St. Basils on two previous occasions, once in 2013 and again in 2014. The charity helps homeless youth and those at risk of becoming homeless in the West Midlands.

William will visit the “Live and Work” partnership between St. Basils and a local NHS Trust. The partnership is a community response to youth homelessness and creates affordable shared accommodation and apprenticeship opportunities with the West Birmingham and Sandwell NHS Trusts.

Twenty-seven Apprenticeships at the NHS Trust are set up for the homeless young people and a block of apartments now provide on-site shared accommodations for the apprentices.

A main benefit of the scheme is that apprentices are able to live benefit free, this has been created so that young people are able to live and work without relying on welfare benefits.

Prince William is patron of Centrepoint, one of the charities that works in partnership with St. Basils as part of the campaign to ‘End Youth Homelessness.’ The alliance that includes many other groups works to bring attention and advise the government on what causes youth homelessness and what can be done to stop it.