United By 2022 is the charity created to sustain the community legacy of the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games.

A global audience of more than a billion received a warm West Midlands welcome as the region became home to more than 5,000 athletes across 20 sports between 28 July and 8 August 2022. Beyond the Games, the UK Government committed wider investment into the region to enhance the legacy and ensure the benefits continue their positive impact for many years to come. The change we set out to achieve with the £4.7m Commonwealth Games Legacy Enhancement Fund investment was to tackle health inequalities and skills challenges in the region, by providing successful community focused pilots started during the Games with the opportunity to realise their full potential. The selection of projects was informed by community consultation which tested need, demand and emerging impact beyond 2022. Evaluation of the original initiatives launched around the Games highlighted that five of the twelve legacy programmes were making a difference to deep rooted structural inequalities for our most marginalised communities. These five initiatives were funded under the name Trailblazers and delivered by United By 2022. These programmes were funded to continue delivering award-winning impact across the region, particularly focusing on children and young people, volunteers, disabled people, and community groups.

In collaboration with Dudley Local Authority Officers, United By 2022 is excited to share insights into how the funding has been allocated and the benefits Coventry’s communities have gained through the Trailblazer programmes.

Key Impacts

Impact in Birmingham

Improving opportunities for young people aged 16-24

Gen22, a youth engagement programme, supports young people aged 16-24 who face a range of barriers including long-term health conditions, having a criminal record, or being a young carer or parent. Participants gain employability boosting skills by undertaking a 30-hour volunteering assignment. Across 4 Dudley-based social action projects, 31 young people took part in Gen22 assignments, with 814 hours of volunteering delivered.

Powered By CAN runs youth programmes for ages 5–25, including the PowerUp! Project with Nova Training. Abbas, a young adult from Dudley with learning disabilities, autism, and a Karyotype 47 chromosomal condition, joined the project with low confidence and limited independence.
Through personal mentoring and workshops, Abbas developed communication, listening, and teamwork skills, significantly gaining confidence through the process. His social action project combined his passions—sports and community—by organising a charity football match with a bake sale.
Abbas has shown clear growth in confidence, communication, and task understanding. He is now preparing for work experience in the football industry and will continue engaging with Powered By CAN through aftercare support.

Youth unemployment in Dudley is much higher than the national average. The current UK average is 5%, while the rate in the borough of Dudley stands at 8.6%. Programmes like Gen22 help create a resilient and thriving voluntary sector which addresses the challenges faced by Dudley’s young people and communities.

Supporting adults in work and volunteering

Through the Volunteers Collective, the Charity’s bespoke volunteering portal and programme, United By 2022 registered 115 Dudley-based volunteers, of which 27 are active volunteers. They filled 72 volunteering positions delivering a total of 20 hours of volunteering time. When volunteers in Dudley were asked to score how much they enjoyed their involvement in the Volunteers Collective from 1-10, on average it received a score of 9.36, with volunteers saying they felt a sense of purpose, pride and belonging.

Volunteering has far-reaching benefits. A 2021 Royal Voluntary Service report found that 58% of volunteers stated it helped improve their job prospects, rising to 73% among 16-19-year-olds. Volunteering also supports wider personal development such as building confidence, improving communication skills and reducing social isolation.

Providing school age children access to inclusive sport

United By 2022’s youth engagement programme Bring the Power supported young people aged 5-25 and specifically sought to address the imbalance of female representation within the sports sector by increasing access to opportunities for young people with disabilities across the digital, arts, and sport sectors. Working predominantly in school settings, Bring the Power upskilled teachers and youth leaders.
United By 2022 engaged with 1,011 young people across 21 sessions in 6 locations across Dudley. When participants were asked to score how much they enjoyed their involvement in Bring the Power from 1-10, it received an average score of 9.67.

With a £7,000 grant from the Bring the Power Youth Programme, Priory Community Centre hosted a Festival Day in Dudley, engaging over 100 young people through sports, culture, and community activities.

Highlights included:

• Youth-led planning by a panel of NEET 10–15-year-olds
• A blind football match with West Bromwich Albion Foundation
• Dance performances, family-friendly games, and a community garden project
• Prizes, merchandise, and follow-up activities like mental health training and sports leader awards

Jess (15), affected by pandemic-related school disruption and mental health challenges has benefitted greatly from the programme, gaining skills, confidence, and support.

Improving opportunities for disabled young people

Critical Mass is a high-profile dance and movement project that engages young people aged 16-30 with disabilities, and without, to come together to move more and perform as a united dance group. In Dudley, 24 young people participated in 47 sessions. When participants were asked to score how much they enjoyed their involvement in Bring the Power from 1-10, it received an average score of 9.67. Programmes like this are crucial for the West Midlands, where 48% of the community who are living with a long-term illness do not participate in regular physical activity, compared to the national figure of 43%.

Callum, a young person with a challenging medical condition and low confidence, joined Connection Dance in 2023 after observing sessions at Coneygre Arts Centre.

With support from staff and peers, he built confidence, creativity, and teamwork skills, becoming a valued group member. Despite missing his first performance due to illness, he stayed engaged and later performed successfully in June 2024, overcoming nerves.

Callum plans to stay involved with the programme, enjoying the creative process and group environment, and looks forward to future performance opportunities.

Conclusion

The Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games provided a powerful catalyst for community connection in Dudley, bringing people together through sport, volunteering, and cultural activities.

By investing in place-based, community-led initiatives, the charity has ensured that funding reaches the most deprived and isolated communities, creating lasting opportunities for engagement. The legacy of the Games lives on through these initiatives, reinforcing a shared sense of purpose, inclusion, and empowerment across Dudley.