Company Profile
NCS with The Challenge is the UK’s leading charity for building a more integrated society. We work on a local level to connect people together across all ages and walks of life. We run youth and community programmes that have the central aim of mixing diverse groups of people with each other.
We are proud to live in a country with a rich mix of different ages, cultures and backgrounds. But instead of valuing our differences, we often let them divide us. We know that many of us feel disconnected from each other and do not understand or trust people who are different from us.
The Challenge is a fast-growing social enterprise that connects and inspires people across Britain to strengthen their communities. NCS is a programme that brings together young people from different backgrounds, builds their confidence, and challenges them to make a difference in their local community. In Summer 2016, 32,000 young people across London, Surrey, Berkshire, the West Midlands, Yorkshire and the North West will take part with The Challenge for an intensive three-week summer programme followed by four weekends in September.
The Challenge is the largest provider of National Citizen Service (NCS), a life-changing experience for 16 and 17-year-olds. The scheme is available to people from all backgrounds. Young people get the chance to do outdoor activities, meet new people and give something back to their communities. By taking part they learn new skills and have a great experience they can put on their CVs or college applications. NCS promotes:
- A more cohesive society by mixing participants from different backgrounds;
- A more responsible society by supporting young people’s transition into adulthood;
- A more engaged society by enabling young people to work together to create social action projects in their local communities.
The Challenge; the largest provider of NCS!
We bring together sixteen year olds from across a community and challenge them to connect with people from different backgrounds, learn key skills for the workplace, and make a difference in their community. They achieve this by completing three challenges:
- NCS Personal Challenge: Socially mixed teams of young people bond through a week of challenging outdoor activities.
- NCS Team Challenge: Teams return home and use their skills to experience serving the local community.
- NCS Real Challenge: Teams work to design and organise activities that will bring the local community together. The Real Challenge Design (RCD) is the third part of the summer programme and the Real Challenge Action (RCA) takes place over four weekends in September, or, on pilot programmes, during the following week.
All young people who complete NCS programme graduate and are signposted into year-round volunteering, membership and social engagement opportunities through The Challenge Society.
