The Funding Network raises over £10k for Hull educational charity, Run With It to expand into North Lincolnshire

“It’s hard to believe that some children living towards the east of Hull have never seen the Humber Bridge and in Bridlington, the 10th most deprived town in the country, where we have another centre, children haven’t seen the sea, even though it’s a seaside town.” 

A charity which focuses on raising the levels of literacy and numeracy across Hull and East Yorkshire has received £10,935 from The Funding Network to expand its work into North Lincolnshire.

Run With It currently offers young people across Hull and East Yorkshire, who are struggling to thrive in a traditional classroom setting, the opportunity to learn in exciting and inspiring environments like football stadiums, shopping centres and entertainment venues. 

At The Funding Network’s Autumn Connector this month, Run With It’s founder and director Lisa Dawson shared insights into the experience of young people facing poverty and disadvantage in the region. She showcased the proven model they use to develop skills and confidence in these young people, which is ready to be replicated in other regions.

Lisa Dawson, Director of Run With It, said:

“Hull is the biggest city within our region but unfortunately we are tackling a huge problem within our area. According to recent statistics we have over 57% of children living in poverty, that’s around 400,000 children living below the poverty line. Many of these children are growing up underachieving. It’s a vicious cycle of lack of hope, aspiration, education and skills, all contributing to deprivation. Change is needed.

“Run With It‘s motto is ‘Learning for Life’ and we aim to inspire, motivate and educate the generation of tomorrow who are getting left behind and ignored. This is highly due to the circumstances in which they entered the world - living in poverty and deprivation, without drive or desire to grow. The name Run With It is about helping to create that ‘lightbulb moment’ in a young person’s life that helps change the direction in which they want to live and supporting them on a pathway to succeed - letting them use these skills to ….Run With It!

“We are so grateful to everyone who donated. Our whole model is based on making learning fun as well as transforming their understanding, while supporting the delivery of literacy and numeracy within the national curriculum.

“We are incredibly proud of what we have achieved as a charity to support so many youngsters. In the last six years alone we have helped over 5000. However, there is more need out there and we have the capacity to grow and do more. This is a massive boost towards us opening a brand new centre to help pupils in North Lincolnshire, an area we have yet to work with, but which has the same needs of poverty and deprivation.” 

Susan Johns, founder and a trustee of the Chaloner Children’s Charity, is a member of TFN, which supports social change. She nominated Run With It to take part in the fundraiser. She said:

“Run With It is doing vital work to raise literacy and numeracy levels in Hull and surrounding areas which has some of the lowest literacy rates in England. They inspire and motivate children, especially those who are disengaged in the classroom.  Hull’s football stadium is a good example of a great setting for learning numeracy and literacy skills.  The children can have real life experiences like sitting in the commentary box where journalists sit during matches to try out commentating, all the while improving their literacy and presentational skills.  The programmes give children hope and inspiration whilst also embedding the work-based skills they will need in the future.”

Meanwhile, Eugenie Harvey, Chief Executive of The Funding Network, said:

“It is extremely difficult for small charities to be seen and heard. Our mission at TFN is to provide a platform from which they can share their inspiring stories of impact and make lasting connections with supporters, working together to bring about positive social change.”

Run With It works out of four locations, including Hull’s MKM stadium, the Flemingate shopping centre in Beverley, Bridlington Town football club and Sewell Group Craven Park in East Hull. 

For more information about Run With It, please visit https://www.runwithithull.co.uk/  

Photo Credit - (L-R) Chair of Run With It Shaun Watts with Run With It’s Director, Lisa Dawson (Credit: Daniel Lewis)