Nottingham Forest's Football in the Community department has a groundbreaking scheme to help build a brighter future for the club, starting at grass-roots level. The aim is help uncover more talent to thrive at Nottingham Forest for years to come.

The schools' coaching programme involves boys and girls in the surrounding areas and provides a paramount platform for an effective campaign, unearthing new talent and providing the vital link between the club and the community.

A working committee manages the Programmes with representatives from Nottingham City Council, Nottinghamshire County Council, The PFA and Forest. The community programme has received substantial backing from many areas including the PFA, Nationwide Building Society, Umbro and McDonald's.

The aims of the Community Scheme include encouraging more people to get involved in football, forging closer links with the community, improving the football talents of youngsters, raising the profile of the game within the community and most importantly, supporting the running of a successful, professional Football Club at the highest level.

The club's team of experienced Community Coaches have developed a wide-ranging variety of activities, which stretch much further than the football pitch. Many other options like D.A.R.E. are available. D.A.R.E. is a police initiated scheme with the full backing of Nottingham Forest that gives youngsters an incentive to stay clear of drugs and violence.

The City Ground also boasts an impressive Study Support Centre for young boys and girls to learn a variety of things after school and there is a reward system offered by Forest to young people who regularly attend and behave well at school.

All of these initiatives contribute to a more efficient community atmosphere and rectification of social problems extending much further than solely the club. Substantial investment helped establish the Study Support Centre at the City Ground, which was opened in December 1999 by The Duke of Edinburgh.

The centre targets 10-13 year olds, focusing primarily on children needing literacy and numeracy support. It also caters for the academic needs of the club's Academy players. The combined backing of Experían, the Department of Education and Employment, Nottingham City Council and Nottingham Forest made the project possible.

The main philosophy of the Forest in the Community scheme is to bring all of the club's community activities together into one main package. The idea is to corroborate the projected successes on the field with strong community links and successes off the field to create a healthy environment for all parties to thrive and prosper.