The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has today published an interactive online map of hundreds of activities for young Londoners this summer across the capital to help provide them with positive opportunities and help them fulfil their potential.
The map, hosted on the City Hall website at www.london.gov.uk/our-london, features more than 200 activities – including a number funded by the Mayor - stretching the length and breadth of the capital, and including the 10 boroughs most affected by knife and violent crime. Despite bids only closing a little over three weeks ago, Sadiq has already made some of his £45 million Young Londoners Fund available to ensure there are diversionary projects and activities for the entirety of the summer holidays – a time of year when there are increases in crime – and beyond.
The Mayor has published the map with activities in all 32 boroughs and the City of London to help families plan their summer holidays. The map will allow them to search for activities for young Londoners in their local area, including sport, education, art, dance, music and technology. It will include activities from at least 17 targeted projects funded by the Mayor to help divert young people from gangs and spending time on the streets, projects for about 1,700 young people to participate in sports activities and projects in 15 schools to support 2,100 of the most vulnerable primary school leavers to make a successful transition to secondary school.
The Mayor wants the simple-to-use map to be a one-stop shop for Londoners to include activities, not just this summer, but all year round and is calling on boroughs, youth centres, charities and community groups to add their activities to provide a comprehensive guide to what’s on for young Londoners. Details can be shared by contacting City Hall.
The City Hall map is part of the next stage of Sadiq’s wide-ranging plans to tackle serious youth violence in the capital. The Mayor wants prevention and diversion measures to work alongside enforcement to help combat the causes of crime. Funding from his Young Londoners Fund will initially help about 3,500 young people who are at most risk of becoming involved in crime this summer, but will help tens of thousands of others when further projects are announced later this month and throughout the course of the year. Sadiq made sure some funding would be available right at the start of the summer holidays, in stark contrast to the government, whose £22m Early Intervention Fund will not begin investing in any projects until the Autumn.
The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said: “Here at City Hall, we’re determined to do everything we can to give young Londoners opportunities to get involved in some of the great things we are putting on in London this summer.
“While there are some early signs that the violence may have stabilised in recent weeks due to our public health approach and increased investment from City Hall, we must take nothing for granted. I’ve been clear that diversion and prevention must go hand in hand with enforcement in our battle to tackle knife and violent crime in London. That’s why City Hall is funding record amounts to try and fill the void left by government cuts to youth services, so that young Londoners have proper access to good, safe projects they can attend during the holidays to help them fulfil their potential and to keep them away from the streets and dangers of crime.
“Our new interactive map highlights the hundreds of events, projects and programmes available, which will give parents an opportunity to plan their summer holidays around what’s going on in their local area. We want boroughs, youth centres and community groups to get involved and tell us what they are doing so we can provide a one-stop shop of summer activities for young people in our great city, all year round.
“While the government buries its head in the sand over its cuts to policing and youth service budgets, I refuse to accept that nothing can be done to stem the rise in violence. City Hall has made sure that our funding is available for activities for young Londoners from the very start of the summer – again something the government has failed to do with its own funding.”
Pastor Lorraine Jones, who runs the Dwaynamics Boxing Club in Brixton, said: “Dwaynamics ABC is having a huge positive impact with hundreds of young people in Lambeth getting involved in sport, all thanks to the Mayor’s funding and support. It not just the investment, but the Mayor has visited Dwaynamics and spoken to many of our kids and ex-offenders, encouraging them to continue to stay on the right path and not to be weakened by the fear knife crime brings.
“We all know that this challenge will not be solved overnight but as a mother that has lost a child, it’s is heartening to see the huge support now coming in to tackling the issue of youth violence. When you see the hundreds of kids coming into our services on a daily basis and ex-offenders turning away from a life of violence and tackling their challenges through our life skills classes, you can only have confidence that we are making progress. I fully support efforts to make young people aware of services like this right around the capital, which are working hard to create a better future for our young Londoners.”
Rosemary Watt-Wyness, Chief Executive of London Youth, said: “Young people often tell me that they wished more of their friends and peers knew about the exciting activities that young people can do in this city. I’m very pleased to see the Mayor promoting the wonderful opportunities for young people in youth organisations across London. After a year of tragic stories about young people, we want young Londoners to have a summer of new experiences, exploration, and fun.”
Patrick Green, CEO of The Ben Kinsella Trust, said: “By taking part in positive activities young people build self-confidence, meet and learn from positive role models, are less likely to be involved in crime and most importantly have fun. With so many varied and interesting activities taking place across the capital it’s important that we make them as easy as possible to find. That’s why we support the Mayor’s initiative to capture what is happening in all the boroughs across London and make them available on one single web page.”
Kate Markey, Chief Executive of The London Community Foundation, which also manages the Mayor’s Knife Crime Fund and the Evening Standard Dispossessed Fund: Save London Lives, said: “We raise funds to support London’s grassroots organisations, including many of those working at the frontline of youth violence in capital,” says “Our report Violence Virus showed the benefit of using different incentives to draw young people in, by recognising and nurturing their interests and talents. An interactive and easily accessible way for young people, and their families, to find opportunities to stay active and safe is an important part of the solution to youth violence. We welcome the Mayor’s publication of the map for London, as this is a complex issue that requires a joined-up response, and mapping out the activities and services on offer will provide young Londoners with positive opportunities and optimise the way in which delivery partners work together.”
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