Reducing violence against young people
Despite the headlines, young Black, Asian and people of Mixed Heritage are more likely to be victims of crime than they are to commit crime.
Working together
Action for Race Equality is working in partnership with Rocket Science to bring an evidence-led understanding of serious youth violence, both in London and across the UK.
ARE recognises that minority-led community organisations, in particular, face significant capacity issues. Funding opportunities need to be tailored to ensure their reach and inclusivity, recognising and tackling funding “cold spots”, as well as the importance of investing in specialist, black-led infrastructure and support to sustain and enable front-line organisations to focus on what’s important – delivering.
Evidence-led
We will use the latest evidence and data, to shape a community-based programme which responds to current trends. These include: high levels of repeat offending; that males make up 75% of serious youth violence (SYV) victims and 77% of offenders; differing types of serious youth violence; focusing on key times for preventative intervention (ie 3-10pm and at the end of the week) and in particular locations where incidences of SYV are disproportionately high eg Westminster, Haringey, Lambeth and Southwark.
Stronger Futures will include work that draws on our experience of capacity building to addresses barriers that community organisations commonly face in accessing funds to support their work by:
- Reaching into communities to identify innovative community-based provision, using ARE’s networks and social media to encourage applications from beyond the “usual suspects” and which genuinely reflect the community.
- Enabling groups to design preventative, early intervention and diversionary activities which are gender-focused, targeting those with multiple risk factors, as well as specific support for those already in contact with the youth/criminal justice system.
- Inviting partnership bids, encouraging place-based anchor organisations to coordinate.
- Facilitating a consortia of local community providers.
Programme summary
The Programme is supported by The Mayor of London’s Violence Reduction Fund.
The Programme
The Stronger Futures Programme will enable community-led groups to support vulnerable young Londoners by providing them with opportunities and support in the hours following school, as well as at weekends, in some cases.
It will invest £1.2m in 20 projects across London. Grants of between £50,000 and £100,000 have been awarded, with an anticipated average size of around £65,000 to be fully spent by August 2022.
This funding is designed specifically for groups and organisations in London which can demonstrate a track record of working with vulnerable young people who are either at risk or have been involved in violence.
The Team
What we’re doing
ARE is overseeing delivery of several projects as part of Stronger Futures.
Outcomes
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