A charity that combines martial arts with education and personal development will receive £500,000 from the government to turn its base in east London into a state-of-the-art facility.
The funding provides the remainder of the total £1.8m budget needed for the redevelopment of Fight for Peace’s East London Academy. A twenty five year lease from the local borough has been secured for the site and construction of the new building will start next month. Other funders that have contributed to the redevelopment include ICAP, Credit Suisse and John Paul Getty Foundation.
Luke Dowdney MBE, Fight for Peace Founder and Director, said: “We are truly ecstatic that we have reached our final goal for the development of our London Academy thanks to this generous donation from the British government as well as the incredible support from our partners in the UK.
“The redevelopment of our London project will allow us to change the landscape in our local community by offering more support to more people as well as helping us to extend our outreach outside of London to young people living in areas where the issues of youth violence and youth offending are most severe. It is a very positive step in our quest to change the lives of young people for the better.”
Once working at full capacity, the academy will be able to help 1,500 young people every year. The funding will allow the creation of more classrooms and multiple sports training areas.
The donation by the UK government follows a visit to Brazil by George Osborne MP, Chancellor of the Exchequer, where he visited Fight for Peace’s Academy in Rio de Janeiro recently.
He said: “This fantastic charity has done so much to change the lives of young people both in Brazil and Britain. By combining boxing and martial arts with education, Fight for Peace is steering children away from crime and making sure they have the skills they need to succeed in the future.
“I want to enable the charity in London to expand and support more children. That’s why we are making this funding available - backing them so they can do even more.’’
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