Foundation receive Home Office Grant to tackle Youth Crime
The project will be delivered from the Stonebridge Pavilion in Brent and will use sports based activities to deliver gang prevention outcomes and to promote community cohesion. The project will engage with young people from diverse backgrounds and bring them together through sports activities, and will use educational sessions to dispel myths and break down barriers between young people from the local area. Participants of the project will be offered access to accredited and non-accredited training courses to enhance their learning ability, including sports and youth work qualifications. Young people will also be assigned a mentor whilst participating on the project which will enable the Foundation to provide young people at risk and those leaving gangs, a locally recognised role model who will provide advice and guidance in the transition to adulthood. Otis Roberts, CEO of the Foundation said, “We are grateful to have received this grant funding from the Home Office through the Communities Against Gangs, Guns and Knives Fund. Youth crime is an issue that affects many communities and we recognise that levels of crime and lack of activities for young people are issues flagged up by local residents in Brent. It is an area the Foundation has been addressing through our Respect Brent programme, by offering free football and sports programmes that are delivered during the school holidays, after school and at weekends, providing a safe place for young people to spend their time. The structured curriculum ensures that they are engaged in constructive activities, away from the danger of the streets. This grant will enable us to continue and to expand this work by providing additional sessions and promoting more volunteering opportunities.” The Communities Against Guns, Gangs and Knives (CAGGK) fund will provide £4 million for the voluntary and community sector over the next two years: £2 million will be available during 2011/12 and a further £2 million during 2012/13. The funding criteria are focused on voluntary sector organisations working with young people at risk of involvement in gang, gun and knife crime or to support those who are involved to leave. Each successful organisation will receive up to £10,000 each per year to prevent the involvement of teenagers in gun, gang and knife crime. The Home Office has committed £18 million of funding for 2011-2013 to support the police, local agencies and the voluntary sector to tackle knife, gun and gang-related violence and prevent young people entering a cycle of crime. The funding will support enforcement and prevention work by police in three crime hotspot areas. It will sit alongside positive activities for young people and local work to bring about long-term changes in attitudes and behaviours. The money includes up to:
The funding will run from April 2011 to March 2013, when police and crime commissioners will be in place. To read more about the work of the Home Office on Knife, gun and gang-related violence visit http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/crime/knife-gun-gang-youth-violence/ If you would like more information about the Foundation’s Respect Brent – CAGGK Project or would like to get involved please email info@jasonrobertsfoundation.org For more information about the work of the Foundation please visit www.jasonrobertsfoundation.com |
The Jason Roberts Foundation is pleased to announce they have been awarded a grant of £8,100 for the first year of their new project in Brent tackling youth crime. The Respect Brent CAGGK Project is financed by the Home Office through the Communities Against Gangs, Guns and Knives Fund.