Midlands athlete driving social impact as recipient of Allwyn ChangeMakers grant
A Birmingham-based athlete will be making a big difference to her local community thanks to Allwyn’s ChangeMakers initiative.
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Nekoda Smythe-Davies, who will be driving social impact in Birmingham after receiving funding from the new operator of The National Lottery, said: “I’m really thankful for this ChangeMakers funding award and the opportunity it will provide to help young people through judo.
“Judo and its core values can do so much for young people.
“I know how much it has benefited me in a whole range of areas and it’s a huge passion of mine to spread these benefits to the next generation.
“It’s thanks to this support from Allwyn and UK Sport that I’m now able to pursue this passion.”
Smythe-Davies is planning to integrate regular evening Judo classes within a community in Birmingham, predominantly for under 12s, with sessions focusing on teaching the values of Judo and channelling their aggression in a safe environment.
She will join fifteen current and former National Lottery funded athletes to receive grants of up to £10,000 to support their activity across a range of causes from the improvement of health and wellbeing, supporting equality, diversity, and inclusion to driving environmental sustainability.
ChangeMakers is a partnership between Allwyn, UK Sport, Team GB and ParalympicsGB launched in 2024 as part of Allwyn’s commitment to having a positive social impact which sees the National Lottery operator commit £1M annually to its Social Value Fund.
The grants are the next step in the ChangeMaker initiative which is made of three elements to enable and empower athletes to deliver social impact for the causes and communities which are important to them.
Firstly, after the Paris Olympics and Paralympics more than 130 athletes committed to go back into communities across the country to support grassroots projects they are passionate about.
The second element – enables athletes to apply for grants to support their personal projects – with the successful recipients being launched today with the third strand being a special Changemaker ‘Powered By Purpose’ cohort.
This is a UK Sport programme which provides athletes with the skills, knowledge and confidence to turn success on the field of play into long-term positive impact for communities.
Andria Vidler, CEO of National Lottery Operator, Allwyn, added: “The ChangeMaker grants from Allwyn’s Social Value Fund will enable these inspiring athletes to make a real difference to the causes and communities which matter most to them.
“Their passion extends beyond sport and I am proud that through Allwyn’s commitment to having a positive social impact, we can support to them to take the next step.
“These grants represent our belief that athletes can be powerful catalysts for change both on and off the field of play.”
Sally Munday, CEO of UK Sport, said: “The National Lottery continues to be the biggest champion of sport at all levels in the UK, and it’s wonderful to see Allwyn, as operator of The National Lottery, enabling our athletes to go even further and use their voice and platforms to power positive change for people, communities and the planet.”
The grants are split into two types; a ‘Try It’ fund which helps athletes who have a social impact idea and want to test its viability and impact, and a ‘Scale It’ fund, to support athletes who have a pre-existing social impact initiative that requires more support to take it the next level.
