How trusted community spaces can help tackle inactivity, isolation, and health inequalities.
This year, Move Mojo launched a new programme for adults with SEND and their caregivers in Tamworth in partnership with Support Staffordshire and Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent Integrated Care System (ICS) LIF project.
The programme forms part of a wider collaboration between local partners, VSCE organisations, and community groups focused on reducing health inequalities through inclusive movement opportunities.
Over the last three years, one lesson has become increasingly clear to us:
You have to go to people.
You cannot simply wait for harder-to-reach communities to come to traditional sport environments.
Across the UK, inactivity rates remain significantly higher among disabled communities and adults with SEND. Yet many sport systems still rely on models where participants are expected to:
- Travel into unfamiliar venues
- Adapt to traditional club structures
- Enter intimidating environments
- Engage through rigid delivery formats
For many communities, those expectations create barriers long before participation even begins.
At Move Mojo, we increasingly reverse that process instead.
Rather than expecting people to adapt to sport, we adapt sport to people and communities.
That means:
- Archery inside day centres
- Curling inside village halls
- Invasion games inside community centres
- Adapted movement inside churches and trusted local spaces
Why?
Because trust matters.
When physical activity enters environments people already know and feel comfortable within, participation increases dramatically.
This becomes particularly important for adults with SEND, older adults, and individuals who may have experienced exclusion from traditional sport environments previously.
One of the biggest problems within community physical activity is relevance.
Many delivery systems still operate using models designed decades ago for very different communities and demographics.
But modern communities require flexibility.
They require co-creation.
And they require delivery that reflects how people actually live.
The programme in Tamworth focused heavily on engagement through enjoyment, accessibility, and community familiarity.
Rather than presenting exercise as something clinical or intimidating, sessions focused on:
- Play
- Social connection
- Adaptable movement
- Confidence-building
- Functional activity
- Inclusive participation
This approach matters because many adults with SEND have historically been excluded from meaningful physical activity opportunities altogether.
Too often, movement has either been medicalised or oversimplified.
At Move Mojo, we believe movement should remain:
- Engaging
- Challenging
- Social
- Fun
- Adaptable
- Person-centred
Not segregated into low-expectation models.
This is where community partnership working becomes essential.
No single organisation fully understands every local barrier or need.
But when councils, community groups, charities, care providers, and activity organisations collaborate properly, systems become far more responsive and accessible.
The Tamworth programme also reflects a wider shift happening across inclusive physical activity nationally.
There is increasing recognition that tackling inactivity and health inequalities cannot rely solely on traditional gym or sport club models.
Community-centred delivery is becoming increasingly important.
And that means meeting people where they are physically, emotionally, and socially.
At Move Mojo, our long-term vision remains simple:
To create inclusive movement opportunities that feel relevant, welcoming, and achievable for every community.
Because movement should never depend on whether somebody feels confident enough to enter a traditional sport setting.
Sometimes the most important thing we can do is bring movement directly to them.
