What is Fit for All?
Fit for All is a co-operative endeavour: communities, families and young people, charities, schools and small groups working together to provide play and adventurous activities and healthy food for disabled and vulnerable children.
By ‘co-operative’ we mean service providers don’t have to have all the answers. Instead: we share the resources we have to make more and better provision for disabled and vulnerable children. Some people have a venue; some have skilled staff or volunteer time; some people have cookery and nutrition know-how; and others have useful links to businesses and buildings that can provide free or low-cost materials or use of facilities. No one has all the answers and everyone is welcome.
Who is it for?
Our aim us to help feed vulnerable children and families and to improve their capacity to cook and eat healthy food; to enable disabled and vulnerable young people to be physically active and to discover and develop skills, interests, abilities and friendships; to provide some time for families – particularly during school holidays; and to enable them to meet and socialise in welcoming and relaxing environments.
By ‘disabled and vulnerable’ we mean any child who is at risk of being excluded from the opportunities, services and social connections that will give them the chance to enjoy a good life. We do mean children and young people with special and additional needs and conditions that professionals call ‘disabilities’. We also mean any child that is vulnerable because of where they, or their parents, come from; where they live; their family circumstances; their health and the health of their family members; and the rising cost of living that makes child poverty deeper and more widespread. We don’t define ‘children’ and ‘young people’ strictly in terms of age.
What does it do – in practice?
Fit for All started life as a campaign to include vulnerable and disabled children and young people in school holiday activities and healthy eating projects. And that is where the programme does most in practical terms.
Using funding from the government’s Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) grant, we work together to provide holiday clubs that are more inclusive – including sessions that are primarily for disabled children, for example, and those that are aimed at a wide cross section. We mainly work in Birmingham – as part of the city’s Bring it on Brum initiative run by StreetGames and Birmingham City Council. But we are happy to help people do more wherever they are. HAF has its limits – it is primarily aimed at children between 5-16 who are eligible for free school meals and it only provides funding in three blocks per year covering: Easter holidays; Summer holidays; and Christmas holidays. We’re interested in working together throughout the year and across a wider age range and we have worked together to enable delivery more widely.
Who organises it?
The programme is organised by Children’s Quarter.
Children’s Quarter is a cooperative alliance of community and parent-led groups, schools, charities and others who are committed to making sure disabled children; and children who are vulnerable due to mental or emotional health, family circumstances or other issues; and their families, are fully included in society and in services they need. You don’t have to be a member of Children’s Quarter to take part in Fit for All, but if you’re a group or organisation, we hope you’ll join – it costs between £10 and £50 a year.
Get in Touch
Please get in touch if you’d like to get involved in Fit for All. Whether you are an individual or you represent an organisation, we’ll be pleased to hear from you by email or by filling in the form below: