Charities share £18m in crime reduction funding

Charities are among organisations that will share £18m in funding to divert young people away from crime.

Ten projects have been handed the funding to target support at young people who have been arrested, at risk of crime or hospitalised due to a violent assault.

The projects aim to support more than 7,300 children.

The money has been handed out by the Youth Endowment Fund, which has appointed an independent evaluator for each project. The Fund has pledged to share the evaluation findings and lobby politicians to promote schemes that show strong results in reducing crime.

Among charities to receive funding is Redthread, which has received £2.1m to support young people in hospital who have been attacked or exploited. The University of Birmingham has been appointed to evaluate the charity’s project.

Redthread chief executive John Pyton said the funding will help the charity to empower “young people to break free from cycles of violence and reach their full potential”.

Today, we announced the projects we're funding through our diversion grant round.

We're investing almost £18 million in ten projects, which will support over 7,300 children and young people by giving them another chance.

Find out more: https://t.co/4EXGWuCjpl pic.twitter.com/7N4VdQRx1x
— Youth Endowment Fund (@YouthEndowFund) November 29, 2021

Meanwhile, Manchester based restorative justice charity REMEDI will use its £1.58m funding to provide mentors to children who have committed, or at risk of committing, violent crime.

Salford Foundation is another charity to receive funding. It has been handed £1.39m to provide face-to-face mentoring for children at risk of being involved in violence.

Other organisations to receive funding include United Borders, We Are With You, YES Outdoors as well as Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust.

“It’s so important that, when things go wrong, children and young people are given another chance to turn their lives around,” said Youth Endowment Fund executive director Jon Yates.

“By working with these ten programmes and their evaluators, we have a unique chance to find out which kinds of support makes the greatest difference at these critical moments.”