Members of Arsenal in the Community were among 150 invitees at the Speaker’s House at the House of Commons on Tuesday night to celebrate the 10-year anniversary of London United.
The group, which is a collaborative network of 16 community organisations within the capital’s football clubs, is chaired by Arsenal in the Community’s Freddie Hudson, and aims tackle some of the biggest issues facing the city with a notable focus on employability, violence reduction and health and wellbeing.
In the 2021/22 season alone, they worked with over 240,000 Londoners, invested more than £30m back into the city, and delivered over 450 programmes in the capital. After completing a decade’s worth of work, they pledge to keep growing partnerships to do even more in the future.
In a welcoming address, the Speaker of the House of Commons, the Rt Hon Sir Lindsay Hoyle, praised the dedication and impact of the unique alliance, to the audience of club representatives, London borough councillors, members of parliament and notable figures who have supported or been a part of London United's mission to improve the lives of Londoners.
He was followed by Freddie, who said: “I’ve been with Arsenal in the Community since its inception in 1985, and over that time I’ve got to see the incredible, unique power that football has in uniting and engaging local communities. The work we do is tough and challenging, and we cannot do it on our own.
“London United has brought us together with our fellow 15 London clubs, so we can better harness our collective strength, and channel that into better outcomes for vulnerable people across our city.
“This event was to celebrate 10 years of London United and showcase the important work we do on a daily basis. We hope it will inspire deeper collaboration with those in the room and beyond to enable us to make even more progress over the next decade.”
Freddie was joined by our Academy director Per Mertesacker, employability officer Jack Ferguson as well as some beneficiaries of our community programmes, who are pictured above alongside Cllr Michelline Safi-Ngongo from Islington.
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