The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has today launched the capital’s biggest ever community sports fund to help under-served and vulnerable young Londoners to access and enjoy sport and physical activity.

Go! London will see £19.5m being spent on improving the lives of young Londoners facing physical, social, economic or educational challenges.

The fund has been established as part of a ground breaking new partnership between City Hall, which has given £4.5M, the London Marathon Foundation and Sport England, which have given £7.5M respectively, supported by London Marathon Events and London Sport, to improve the accessibility of sport across the capital.

The partnership aims to invest at least £10m into grassroots sport and physical activity initiatives by 2025 and to leverage an additional £3m into the Go! London fund by 2027.

Go! London aims to use sport and physical activity to empower young people to fulfil their potential by improving physical and mental wellbeing, safety, employability, and community relationships.

Applications for the first set of grants open today, with charities, youth groups, social enterprises and faith groups able to apply for grants of up to £150,000 this month to improve existing sport and physical activity programmes and deliver new services, such as youth mentoring and extra support for young people with special educational, disability and mental health needs.

The fund will run for at least five years from March 2023 with several funding opportunities available later this year and in 2024.

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said: “I’m thrilled to be launching my new Go! London fund, my biggest ever community sport fund, to improve the accessibility of sport for under-served young Londoners.

“I know the huge difference that sport can make to physical, mental and emotional wellbeing and it’s vital that all young people can take full advantage of these benefits, no matter their personal circumstances.

“City Hall will work closely with our Go! London partners to seek new opportunities to support London’s youth through sport, building a better, safer, more prosperous London for all.”

Catherine Anderson, Executive Director of the London Marathon Foundation, said: “The creation of the Go! London Partnership is a unique collaborative project and we are proud that the London Marathon Foundation is a founding funder and London Marathon Events is a strategic partner for what will be the biggest community sport fund in London.

“Our vision is Inspiring Activity and, since the London Marathon was founded in 1981, we have worked to inspire people to get active. The Go! London fund will create exciting new opportunities for children and young people to lead active and healthy lives. We look forward to seeing projects and initiatives supported by Go! London using the transformative power of sport and physical activity to bring about long-term, positive change across the capital.”

Emily Robinson, CEO of London Sport, said: “As the biggest community sport fund in London this partnership, backed by National Lottery investment from Sport England, will change the lives of thousands of young Londoners and help them reap the physical, mental and social benefits of an active life.

“London Sport is proud to contribute to this unique collaboration, and we’re excited to work with some of our biggest partners to tackle inactivity and inequality in the capital.”