Morton in the Community

GREENOCK MORTON IN THE COMMUNITY

Greenock Morton Football Club may only play in the second tier of Scottish Football but the Community initiatives via the Morton in the Community supported by the club are certainly Premier League.

Established in September 2012 the Morton in the Community initiatives have grown quickly to address many of the social issues in Inverclyde, one of the most deprived areas in Scotland and the UK. Using the power of the local football brand we have seen an incredible increase in numbers across all projects as sign up, retention and outcomes continually rise. With only one Professional football club based in Inverclyde, Morton are proud to deliver so many projects to serve the needs of the area and meet its mission statement and goal to be “The Heartbeat of Inverclyde”.

PRIMARY PROJECTS

The primary projects that we are delivering include;

• Micro Morton – Physical Literacy for 2-4 year olds, starting children young and ensuring enjoyments of exercise as a lifelong habit. Morton in the Community have compiled a research paper in conjunction with a top Scottish sports scientist proving the benefits of this programme.
• Mini Morton – Continuation of the Micro programme for children aged 5-8 years
• Football Fans In Training – a National programme funded by the SPFL targeting weight loss in male and females over the age of 35 with high BMI and larger waist size.
• Employability – Delivering our flagship project Positive Goals in partnership with DWP Job Centre Plus we work with and support Single Parents and Job Seekers aged 25+ on their journey back to work. We engage with 60 participants per year and achieve approx. 50-55% job outcome success.
• Education – Our Greenock Morton Education Trail engages with Primary 5 (10/11 year olds) supporting their English education offering an alternative learning environment. In which we relate specific aspects of the everyday running of a Football Club to their Curriculum for Learning.
• Community Teams – The natural steps through our pathway from Micro and Mini is into our structured community teams. This offers boys and girls an opportunity to express the talent they developed at Micro and Mini sessions within an organised match day environment. We have 11 boys team and 6 girls teams between the ages of 6-17.