Investing and supporting young Londoners
London’s Violence Reduction Unit (VRU) was set up by the Mayor of London to lead an approach that is rooted in prevention and early intervention.
Its focus is on working to stop violence before it occurs.
The underlying causes of violence are deeply complex and decades in the making – driven by poverty, inequality and deprivation.
The VRU will continue to be a voice for communities, working with others to call for greater national investment, while taking action to address deep-seated causes of violence such as social alienation and lack of opportunity.
We strongly believe that violence is preventable and not inevitable.
It means advocating for young people and investing in prevention programmes that deliver early interventions in a young person’s life and projects that provide support for parents, carers and communities.
Here's what we are doing to support young people and communities:
Investing in young people
- the VRU is providing support for parents and carers and has invested in mentoring support for 4,000 young Londoners
- the VRU has invested in the Social Switch programme, which provides training for youth workers to be equipped with the skills and knowledge to be able to advise young people on how to navigate the risks and opportunities online
- Dream, Believe, Succeed project, delivered by Edmonton Community Partnership with funding through London’s VRU. The partnership is an alliance of 19 schools, community organisations and local young people. It provides prevention and intervention programmes to children and young people between 10 and 16 who are either at risk or involved in violence.
Preventing future violence
-
126
Programmes Funded last year to provide positive opportunities for young people
-
80000
Young people Supported by VRU programmes in 2020
-
£7m
Schools Funding for schools and pupil referral units
-
150
Schools Being supported to deliver a more inclusive education for all children
Education
- City Hall’s Stepping Stones programme, supporting at-risk young people in their transition from primary to secondary school, has been expanded to 45 schools, helping 4,000 vulnerable young Londoners
- Stronger Futures is a £1.3m fund for grassroots and community-led organisations designed to support vulnerable young Londoners in the hours following school and at weekends. The investment is for community-led groups to support those young Londoners most in-need
- the VRU has invested £840,000 to enable Pupil Referral Units to either set up a new mentoring programme or to enhance existing provision. The programme recognises that youth workers and mentors are a key relationship for young people
- the VRU is focused on reducing school exclusions and has invested in Nuture - the inclusive schools’ charity – who are delivering a programme in 30 schools across 13 London boroughs. It builds on work that schools are already doing to be inclusive and nurturing to support the reduction in the number of children who are excluded from school.
Playing this video will set cookies from YouTube/Google
MyEnds
- London’s Violence Reduction Unit launched the flagship MyEnds programme – which is taking a neighbourhood-level approach to tackling and reducing violence
- the VRU invested £6 million in eight consortiums across London with a focus on putting communities at the forefront, providing them with support and giving them the tools they need to drive down violence and make our city safer for all Londoners
- our research has shown that the most effective way to prevent violence in these areas is to provide leaders from these communities with resources to enhance prevention measures
- eight community networks will receive up to £750,000 funding each, up to April 2023:
- Croydon
- Haringey
- Newham
- Southwark
- Lambeth
- Brent
- Hackney
- Tower Hamlets
Playing this video will set cookies from YouTube/Google
Youth work
- the Mayor and the VRU have invested £4m to place youth workers in eight A&E departments and four Major Trauma Centres. Basing youth workers in A&E departments helps them intervene much earlier and engage with young people when they arrive at hospital with injuries as a result of violence – the time when they are most receptive to changing their behaviour
- new £900,000 funding in DIVERT – a police custody programme in all 12 BCU areas which sees specially trained custody intervention coaches meet young people following their arrest at what is known as a ‘teachable moment’. They work to offer long-term support and guidance and develop plans that can lead to training, education and employment opportunities. The programme has helped 1,169 people – of which nearly 800 have either entered into employment, education or training
- to bolster and support youth work in London, we’re investing £1.1m to provide up to 200 youth workers with high quality, specialist training to help them develop further skills in mentoring, safeguarding, mental health support and employment opportunities. The investment follows a pilot programme, funded by the VRU, which helped 94 youth practitioners improve leadership skills and knowledge, and recognises that these key workers are a community-led first line of defence for young people most at risk of serious violence
- the VRU secured £10m national investment to deliver a Cognitive Behaviour Therapy programme. Up to 100 youth practitioners, working across all 32 boroughs, will deliver high intensity interventions for 2,500 children and young people at greatest risk of violence.
Young Person's Action Group
- the VRU’s Young Person’s Action Group (YPAG) is formed of 10 young Londoners who help shape the work of the unit and to ensure we embed young people’s perspectives into our work. The aim of the YPAG is to amplify the voices of young Londoners whilst supporting them to lead change
- we selected young people from across London with ‘lived experience of violence’ or who had campaigned on youth issues.
- working with the YPAG we are developing a youth-led, youth participation strategy and a work programme focused on three thematic priorities:
- Changing the story on school exclusion. This includes hosting themed seminars, led and hosted by young people on how to increase school attendance and improving attainment.
- Online harms experienced by children and young people.
- Developing effective pathways for young people into employment. This includes access to mentoring, careers, education and training advice and opportunities for networking with professionals and business across a range of industries in London.
Partnership approach
- we are bringing people together across London in a joint approach with councils, the NHS, public health, education, charities, communities and the police
- we’re working closely with community groups across London to tackle violence and investing in programmes that support youth workers, parents and schools
- the VRU is investing £4.4m to support diversionary work across all 32 boroughs, which includes positive activities for young people including sports, music, cooking and art, as well as personal mentoring. We’re working with the boroughs on local violence plans to coordinate activity and help deliver what works in other parts of London
- we’ve joined forces with nine housing associations to develop mentoring, counselling and training for parents, as well as to identify risk factors and provision of safe spaces for young people.
Share your thoughts on working with young people to tackle violence in London
Visit Talk LondonSign up to receive updates from the Violence Reduction Unit
Need a document on this page in an accessible format?
If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader) and need a version of a PDF or other document on this page in a more accessible format, please get in touch via our online form and tell us which format you need.
It will also help us if you tell us which assistive technology you use. We’ll consider your request and get back to you in 5 working days.