Youth Charter, Muhammad Ali Centre & Muhammad Ali Institute for Peace & Justice

In 2006, the Youth Charter hosted the Muhammad Ali Scholars Tour Group, from the Muhammad Ali Institute for Peace & Justice, during the UK leg of their global trip. A further tour group was hosted in 2010 with our American friends meeting with young people from across the North West of England and then taking part in a London 2012 Olympic Legacy conference organised by the Youth Charter in conjunction with the University of Roehampton.

The Youth Charter has established an ongoing relationship with the Muhammad Ali Center in Louisville and has participated in, and contributed to, the Muhammad Ali Humanitarian Awards and has delivered the Float Like a Butterfly Social Coach Leadership Programme workshops.

Float Like a Butterfly Social Coach Leadership Programme

The Float Like a Butterfly Social Coach Leadership Programme (FLAB SCLP)was launched in 2016, following the passing of the late great Muhammad Ali and was initially delivered in two cities: Manchester, UK; and Louisville, USA.

The FLAB SCLP is a culmination of the Youth Charter’s partnership with the Muhammad Ali Institute and Center and provides a program of opportunity through the life, times and legacy of the Greatest sporting humanitarian, Muhammad Ali.

The Muhammad Ali 6 Core Principles are at the very heart and essence of the personal and professional characteristics that determine the Social Coach’s commitment of engaging, equipping and empowering young people and communities. The aim of this #AliLegacyOpportunity4All is to build on the footprint of Muhammad Ali in promoting an ambitious global program of FLAB Social Coaches who will be selected, recruited and deployed across all five continents. FLAB SCLP Workshops have now been delivered locally, nationally and internationally in person and through online workshops.

The FLAB SCLP Louisville workshop provided a diverse range of personal and professional life experiences that reflect the ‘fast track’ module that we have prepared for individuals already working with the philosophy, mission, aims, objectives and values of the program. This was evident with our final community engagement visit, which again exposed us to the challenges and opportunities in delivering a sustainable multi-agency network of support for the local stakeholder delivery partners that we work with. From basketball coaches selling soda pop to fund a local team’s basketball uniforms to the neighbour who repairs bicycles and local community police officers working with the young people in the community. There was and is still clearly much going on that simply needs to be coordinated in a more impactful and sustainable way.

Smoke Town Community Campus

The Youth Charter was hosted by Muhammad Ali Board Member, Councillor Barbara Sexton-Smith during its four-day engagement with the Smoketown community. Cllr Sexton-Smith’s dynamic and engaging commitment to all of her constituents was clear to see, witness and experience. This allowed the Youth Charter to gain a real-life insight to the day-to-day challenges experienced by a community of historic deprivation.

The Youth Charter was also hosted by the Chief of Police of Louisville, Steve Conrad, who, with seven of his most senior officers and Councillor Barbara Sexton-Smith, engaged with the community as part of their continued commitment to safer and healthier neighbourhoods.

To develop cross-sector support for a Smoke Town Community Campus, the Muhammad Ali Center invited Louisville Private, Public and Third Sector organisations to attend a special event: “Violence Prevention Programs - Why They’re Not Working: a View from Manchester to Louisville”. The event saw the Youth Charter, Founder and Chair, Geoff Thompson, deliver a high-level discussion with key stakeholders on how the life and legacy of Muhammad Ali can be translated into tools for community-building and violence prevention.

Anglo-American Exchange Programme

The Youth Charter’s Anglo-American Exchange Program began in 1994 with the Spirit of Hulme and Moss Side tour of LA and was advanced further in 2006 and 2010 when the Youth Charter hosted Muhammad Ali Scholars from the Muhammad Ali Institute in Louisville.

In 2017, the Youth Charter hosted the Mayor of Louisville, Greg Fisher, and Rashaad Abdur-Rahman, during a visit to London, as part of the Global Mayor’s Conference.

FIFA World Cup 2026 and LA 2028 - Legacy in Action & #GlobalCall2Action

Muhammad Ali became an Olympic Champion aged 18, providing the platform for him to become the ‘Greatest’ boxer of all time, and using his fame to be a Messenger of Peace. The Youth Charter is a 33-Year Games legacy of the Manchester 2000 Olympic bid and the Manchester 2002 Commonwealth Games, also having recently contributed to the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games.

The Youth Charter is now focused on the FIFA World Cup 2026 and LA 2028 Olympic & Paralympic Games through the delivery of the Muhammad Ali Centre’s Legacy in Action and a #GlobalCall2Action with the Muhammad Ali Institute of Peace and Justice, as part of the Youth Charter’s Community Campus Model that aims to support the delivery of the UN 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.

Scaling Up

The Project Greatness Global Call 2 Action provides relatively conservative engagement numbers. However, if the Youth Charter’s Community Campus Model and Legacy Cultural Framework impact matrix was adopted by UN DESA Sport for Development and Peace as an operating model that can deliver its Action Plan, the Global Call 2 Action has the potential to be scaled up for the benefit of hundreds of millions of disaffected and disadvantaged children and young people with long term sustainable impact.

“Just as Officer Joe Martin helped to change the course of young Cassius Clay’s life, we have found that a strong Social Coach equipped with comprehensive resources and curricula materials based on Muhammad Ali’s 6 Core Principles can interrupt cycles of disaffection and hopelessness that lead to violence within our communities. The Muhammad Ali Center and Youth Charter are fortified in our resolve to grow the Float Like a Butterfly Social Coach Leadership Program and to expand the reach of Muhammad Ali’s legacy into communities globally.”

Donald E. Lassere, former President and CEO, Muhammad Ali Centre