Additional Funding to Help Communities Confront the Problem of Youth Violence
An additional £500,000 to help communities confront the problem of youth violence was announced by the Home Office this week.
The support is targeted at young people at risk of becoming violent offenders and those already involved in gang and knife crime, to encourage them onto a different path.
The Home Office also announced it will expand its Ending Gang and Youth Violence frontline team to cover four more priority areas including Merton, which, this time last year, saw the fatal stabbing of local 18 year-old Seydou Diarrassouba on Oxford Street.
Metropolitan police figures suggest around 60% of knife crime attacks are carried out in a gang context.
Youth violence
Home Secretary Theresa May said: ‘Serious youth violence has a devastating impact on communities and needs to be stopped.
‘We need to change the life stories of the young people who too often end up dead or seriously injured on our streets or are sucked into a life of violence and crime.
‘This package of support will help police protect communities as well as boost the innovative work being done at a local level by charities and voluntary groups to provide vulnerable youngsters with a way out.’
Gun and gang violence
The Home Office has already committed £18 million of funding until 2013 to support the police, local agencies and voluntary sector to tackle knife, gun and gang-related violence and prevent youth crime. The funding supports enforcement and prevention, alongside positive activities for young people to bring about long-term changes in attitudes and behavior.
The Communities Against Guns, Gangs and Knives Fund makes up £4 million of this, supporting 189 Voluntary and Community Sector organizations. This announcement will provide up to £10,000 further funding for 50 of these organizations.
Source: UK Home Office
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Category: Europe
