Published
By Toby Belshaw
Crescent Purchasing Consortium (CPC) ‘Giving Back’ grant funding has helped to support a free football tournament for students at The City of Liverpool College.
The £1000 ‘Giving Back’ grant helped put on a World Cup-style football tournament and went towards the purchasing of branded CPC bibs, pitch hire, snacks and water for competitors and prizes for the winners, as the beautiful game brought 50+ students from the college together one afternoon in late May.
The event celebrated community cohesion and gave the six teams and 36 students taking part access to top quality facilities, with many others taking on supporting roles, including coaching, refereeing, data analysis and social media support, and the college’s football team on hand to offer any advice.
The power of football helped TO bring the student community together and created a fantastic, vibrant and fun atmosphere for all of the HE, A Level and further education students taking part, while, after weeks of rain, the sun even came out for parts of the tournament.
One of the organisers, sports coach Jahan Asadizadeh, said, “This event was open to all students across the college, including those who would not usually have access to free sports or the opportunity to play in a team. We have a diverse range of students, many of which asylum seekers and refugees who were able to represent their country of birth at this tournament, which was an opportunity to celebrate the different cultures and promote community cohesion. We are so grateful to Crescent Purchasing Consortium for this funding, which has allowed us to put on a fantastic event. I want to thank all those who took part and helped support the smooth running of the tournament".
The event was organised by the Students’ Union at Liverpool City College, and Student Engagement Officer Beverley Abbott, who applied for CPC ‘Giving Back’ grant funding in November, said, “We saw this tournament as an excellent opportunity to prioritise the representation of minority groups. Our Students’ Union has a proven track record of engaging students from minority groups and we provide an inclusive and safe space for students. We have run previous events which have been attended by high numbers of asylum seekers and refugees and this tournament was free for all students to attend. Thank you to everyone at CPC for helping make this event happen.”
Each year CPC's Board of Trustees review the level of reserves our charity has and any surpluses are reinvested into the education sector via the 'Giving Back' funding initiative. To date, over £1.56 million has been designated for reinvestment in the form of various projects, with the largest amount being used specifically for awarding non-refundable grants to CPC members. So far, approximately £750,000 of grants have been ’given back’ to 134 institutions, including colleges, schools, academies and universities around the UK.