Go! London - Rocket Science

  • Grant Management
  • Health and Social Care
  • Young people

The Mayor of London, London Marathon Foundation and Sport England have come together as funders, in partnership with London Marathon Events and London Sport, to create Go! London. The purpose of this fund is to: 

  • help build a fairer London by transforming the lives of underserved children and young Londoners through sport and physical activity;
  • strengthen, diversify, and sustain the provision of sport and physical activity in the capital so that it better meets the needs of underserved children and young Londoners, and
  • reduce the barriers to sport and physical activity facing underserved children and young Londoners to ensure they can fulfil their potential.

The existing Go! London funders have pooled a commitment totalling £19.5m and the partnership will run for at least five years from March 2023, providing a number of funding opportunities each year.  Rocket Science UK Ltd was appointed as the Grant Management Organisation, coming together with London Youth and Sported to offer capacity building support for organisational development in a funder plus model.

Go! London has 5 pillars, which are at various stages of development:

  • Foundation fund – launched 7 March 2023, round 2 late 2023
  • Evolution fund – launched 7 March 2023
  • Schools Access – piloting late 2023 
  • Walking, Running and Cycling – piloting late 2023
  • Young Entrepreneurs – start date late summer 2023

Go! London is designed to use sport and physical activity to create change. The following outcomes will be measured for underserved children and young Londoners, aged 4-24, defined as those who experience a higher risk of poverty, social exclusion and discrimination than the general population as well as barriers to engagement:

  • improving young Londoners physical and mental wellbeing;
  • improving young Londoners employability skills;
  • better connecting young Londoners to their communities;
  • improving young Londoners safety;
  • reducing the loneliness of young Londoners; and
  • creating lifelong positive experiences of being physically active.

Learning and best practice will be developed and shared to influence the capital’s sports and physical activity sector to better meet the needs of underserved young Londoners.