The Derby County in the Community scheme operates from the Derby County Football Academy at Moor Farm, Morley Road, Oakwood, Derby.

The scheme delivers its core programme throughout Derbyshire in schools as far north of the county as Hayfield and in the south as far as Coton in the Elms.

To ensure that local community activity is locally based, the scheme appointed three regional development officers in January 2007.

DCITC staff currently engages with 1000 school children each week and during 2007 delivered sessions in education and football to over 300 schools.

The strength of the scheme is its reputation for excellence and quality that has been developed since its inception in 1999.

Constant monitoring and evaluation of the delivery programmes is undertaken to ensure that all activities remain of the highest standard.

The scheme continues to evolve and ensures that its delivery programme is innovative and cutting edge.

The standards of the scheme have been acknowledged both regionally and nationally.

The scheme was awarded the national FA Charter Standard Award for Excellence in 2005/06 and has been short listed for the Derbyshire Business Awards for the past two years.

We acknowledge that the benefits of sport go well beyond the skills young people learn and practice on the field.

Our ethos is to teach people life skills for use beyond the playing field to assist in building and enhancing communities.

Here are some examples of the type of work that is undertaken by DCITC:

* We have recently been awarded the Partnership Innovation Award for Derbyshire for our work with the Prince's Trust in respect of our commitment to improving the career opportunities, hopes and aspirations of young people.

* We have successfully accessed a significant sum of funding to run a social inclusion project in conjunction with the Football Foundation, Premier League and Derbyshire Constabulary in a deprived area of the city.

The Kickz project works with referred young adults and helps to reduce crime, disorder and anti-social behaviour as well as educating disaffected young adults in life skills.

Through crime pattern analysis it is shown that there is a significant decrease in the level of criminality in areas where and when such sessions are held.

* We are heavily involved with the Premier League's Creating Chances initiative and this year through this programme we have raised and allocated £46,000 to local charities.

On December 14 2007, Academy product and first-team player Lee Holmes flew to Lapland with the Wish upon a Star charity to meet Santa with 100 terminally ill children.

* Each year the club nominates 10 designated charities with whom we work to raise funds.

The charity year ends with a Summer Ball in July at Pride Park and during 2006-07 the club raised £50,000 for extremely worthy causes.

* On July 30 2007 Derby County hosted the inaugural Brian Clough Trophy match against Nottingham Forest.

A sum of £100,000 was raised for charity from the gate receipts. Among the organisations that have benefited from this game so far are the County Air Ambulance, the NSPCC and a number of other local causes.

* The club provides, at no cost, a study support centre within the stadium which is used as part of an after school programme by local children aged between ten and 14.

They are taught how to improve their IT, literacy and numeracy skills.

The same facility is used at weekends for a computer club for girls which, due to its success, was visited in December 2007 by the Rt Hon Margaret Beckett MP.

* One of our young coaches was selected earlier this year as one of only two girls from England and Wales to represent the Football Association in Malawi where she helped deliver a coaching programme to young Africans many of whom are affected by HIV and AIDS.

* Derby County are one of the very few clubs in the country that has its own mental health football team.

The group train weekly and wearing club colours represent Derby County at regional and national festivals.

Recently four of our players were selected to represent the East Midlands in a national FA Disability Festival at the David Beckham Football Academy.

The overall success of the players this season was rewarded when the club made a pitch side presentation to the team prior to the Everton home fixture in October 2007.

This resulted in a letter of commendation being received by the club from the local Mental Health Trust.

Throughout the early part of this year we worked with the Barclays Spaces for Sport team and installed, at a cost of £500,000, an artificial turf pitch at the Racecourse ground for community use.

An ongoing application for funding, if successful, will enable us to provide changing facilities, a club house and car parking to the site.

* DCITC is engaged in an inner city initiative working with under privileged youngsters from the Normanton area of Derby.

During the autumn holidays and while supporting the Kick Racism out of Football campaign we sent a group of 12-year-old children on a week's residential holiday to the Skegness Children's Home.

* A recent and successful sports match bid to deliver a programme of football coaching to members of the emerging eastern European community within Derby has been recognised nationally for its delivery and innovation.

* We do as a football club use our players to engage in all types of community work.

Stephen Bywater was featured on Sky Sports when visiting a school in Chaddesden, while Marc Edworthy appeared last month on BBC Match of the Day working with the Barnado's charity at a school in Sinfin.

* Through the club's Hat Trick project based in the Derwent ward of the city two previously disaffected local residents are now in full time work delivering football coaching courses in that area.

A further 40 residents have been supported to attain a number of different qualifications which has enabled the club to provide an infrastructure that now supports two local football teams.

* DCITC manages and administers the Young Rams membership scheme which currently boasts a record membership of 3,500 boys and girls.

We understand no other Premier League club offers its members an adult and child ticket for a combined price of £20 for any Premier League home game.

* DCITC is currently working with local partners and agencies to assist the club, using football as a vehicle, to engage with the black and minority ethnic communities in the city in an effort to support community cohesion.

The scheme is operating at capacity and needs to attract additional funding to recruit new staff to meet current demand and to allow scheme development and expansion.