Urban Uprising is an Edinburgh-based charity which supports access to indoor and outdoor rock-climbing opportunities for at-risk or vulnerable young people; the charity was awarded a £2,500 organisational grant in April 2023.
Urban Uprising aims to provide climbing opportunities to young people who would not normally be able to benefit from the sport, provide personal support from its volunteer coaches and build supportive social groups to enable participants to interact with their peers.
There are a number of programmes offered by Urban Uprising to meet their aims. The ‘Climb’ programme is an introductory course at local climbing centres in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Bristol and Cambridge. ‘Climb’ has been run by Urban Uprising for seven years and is tailored to the needs of its participants. In Aberdeen, Urban Uprising works with recently bereaved young people for six weeks. This programme runs alongside their other support and activities. Three ‘Climb’ programmes run each year in both Edinburgh and Glasgow with two in Aberdeen.
Participants in Glasgow and Edinburgh can also take part in the ‘Outdoor’ programme. This takes the form of a day trip with Climb Scotland or a two-night stay at Glenmore Lodge to try climbing in the wild! Participants are exposed to parts of natural Scotland they may never have visited and offered a new social group experience away from home. There are around four to five ‘Outdoor’ groups each year.
Urban Uprising takes referrals from a number of partner organisations including The Prince’s Trust, Crossroads, Wester Hailes Education Centre and many more. Many participants experience difficulties at home, poor mental health, anxiety, depression and involvement with the criminal justice system. Problems with drugs or alcohol and anti-social behaviour often means the young people supported by Urban Uprising are at risk of exclusion or are already not in education, employment or training.
Urban Uprising reported a very positive response by participants to the activities and programmes they offer:
“We saw an increase in confidence to try new things, resilience to deal with failure and participation in physical activity in the young people”