Luton Council and Luton Town FC Community Trust joined together with Football for Peace to deliver a City for Peace educational programme that enabled young people across Luton to work together within their communities to create greater mutual understanding and respect, while developing personal skills in the process. The 30 Young Peace Leaders created in Luton came together and delivered numerous mentoring workshops and Peace Tournaments engaging and uniting over 1000 young people in the community challenging the negative ideologies and marginalisation that is present in parts of the town. The graduation event was held at Luton Town FC, Kenilworth Road Stadium which saw the community as well as the Mayor of Luton, Chairman of Luton Town FC and many others come together in support of the Young Peace Leaders achievements. The work of the Young Peace Leaders continues as many have engaged with further activities committed in driving a message of unity in a town.
Today was a fantastic event. The town recently united to celebrate the achievements of its sporting heroes and initiatives like Football for Peace are another great way of drawing people together
These enthusiastic ambassadors have learnt a great deal. While in some ways the tournament marks the end of their programme, I’m sure their energy and enthusiasm will continue to inspire others from all sections of our community for many years to come. It is great to be able to offer our facilities to Football for Peace to support this initiative in the town. It is a real opportunity for clubs like ours to open our doors and see young players have a chance to play here while learning such important lessons for life
