I am writing to you regarding the recently published Medwin Hughes Report and to highlight the strength of Cardiff City FC Community Foundation’s partnership with Literature Wales.

The Cardiff City FC Community Foundation is the official charity of Cardiff City FC. We use the unique appeal of Cardiff City FC as an engagement tool for social change. Our goal is to support children, young people and families in South Wales to achieve their full potential by creating education and employment opportunities, improving health and well being and reducing offending and reoffending.

We want a future where our communities are more prosperous, healthier, more resilient, and more cohesive. We recognise that achieving this future will require a multi--‐agency approach and have set out to develop innovative partnerships. We have collaborated with Literature Wales for a number of years, co--‐designing and delivering projects that engage children in literacy related activities. This approach is not simply about reading books, but about developing reading skills, confidence and a passion for literacy.

We have found this a particularly powerful approach in engaging members of our community that otherwise would not engage in literacy related tasks, and by using the hook of Cardiff City Football Club, and once engaged, the skilled and passionate workforce of Literature Wales to provide the expertise to drive the change. We hope that in the longer term this work can contribute towards breaking cycles of poor literacy within households and amongst specific groups within our community.

I hope that this provides you with a flavour of our existing partnership with Literature Wales and how this is something that as a Foundation we value highly. We believe we have found a means of using the appeal of the professional Football Club brand and the expertise of Literature Wales to make a positive difference within some of the most disadvantaged Welsh Communities in an area that some would not engage with through traditional means.