Since 2010, the Premier League and Professional Footballers' Association's Community Fund has enabled clubs across England and Wales to develop and deliver community programmes that are tailored to needs in their local area.
Here, we take a look at the incredible impact of some of these programmes.
Lauren (Manchester City)
As a children's nurse and a mum of four young children, Lauren Todd certainly has her hands full.
Raising a family in the midst of a cost-of-living crisis, it can be difficult to find free and fun activities to engage the whole family.
But at various locations across Manchester, City in the Community provides free sessions for two-to-five-year-olds, and their parents and carers, to take part in physical activity.
The programme is called City Play Together, which began during the Coronavirus pandemic and runs in a variety of locations across the city.
"I heard about City Play Together through a friend about two years ago and we've been going ever since," Lauren says. "The way the staff engage with the children is just amazing.
"The sessions are so organised. It is superb the way they involved each child."
Lauren's second child was three-years-old when he first started going to City Play Together in 2022. He could be quite shy and withdrawn around other people but attending the sessions made a huge difference.
"He was a lockdown baby and would only come to me, he wouldn't speak to anybody," Lauren says. "The programme really brought out his confidence. It was amazing seeing that change because when he was a tiny baby, he just constantly stuck to me.
"But seeing him go to coach Jack [Alder, early years lead coach at City in the Community] and he'd be giving him high fives and wanting to hug him to say goodbye. I never thought I'd see him be like that with anyone else.
"When he then started primary school, he had no problems at all. I really believe those weekly sessions helped him with his confidence to be able to speak to other adults and children."
As well as inspiring youngsters to keep active, City Play Together is
designed to support parents and children's mental health too.
The programme also involves creative games that help children develop their motor skills as well as teaching them about numbers and colours.
And one of the aims of the programme is to provide parents and carers with the skills, confidence and tools to engage their children in the activities at home, empowering parents to embed healthy activities in their daily lives.
"It's about learning, you can take away from the sessions and do those activities at home," Lauren says. "You don't have to buy expensive stuff, you can incorporate games with just a few cones or other items around the home.
"My third child Keogh is two-and-a-half now and he comes home and wants to be coach Jack. He teaches my other children the little games that he does, which is lovely."
Lois Daniels is the City in the Community early years manager and is proud of what the programme has achieved.
"It's wonderful to hear from a parent that we're making a positive impact in the community," she says. "It's a great programme, it's fantastic to see the families returning each week, you know that the sessions are going well.
"It's about trying to build relationships. Sometimes maybe the parents are struggling and we are able to talk things through with them.
"We help them understand that there's different ways of doing activities and we encourage them to be creative. We show them things they can do and they feel a bit more relaxed."
A key part of the Premier League and Professional Footballers' Association's Community Fund is the freedom it gives clubs to design programmes that address specific needs in their local area.
And in the case of City Play Together, the programme's flexible model allows City in the Community to target different family groups and react to need across the city.
"The PL/PFA funding is extremely important," Lois says. "Without it we wouldn't be able to make the impact in the community that we are.
"Lauren explaining how she will go home and play with Keogh in the garden, that's what we are aiming for, that's our impact. This is what the programme allows me to do and hopefully it continues to grow and grow in the next few years."
And for Lauren, her family's story with City Play Together is not finished yet as her youngest, 20-month-old Odhrán, is the latest to come through the programme.
"We've got a family legacy there now!" she says. "City Play Together means a lot to me and my family and we would be lost without it.
"It's something that's consistent, that we can go to every week, that we know is going to keep the kids active. From starting at such a young age it encourages children to live a healthy active lifestyle and hopefully will stay with them throughout the rest of their lives. It's amazing."
