Sadiq boosts 36 projects delivering programme of activities for young Londoners, including those most at risk of getting caught up in crime
Almost 10,000 at-risk young Londoners to benefit from latest phase of £45m Young Londoners Fund
London has lost 81 youth centres and 800 full time youth workers as a result of £39m of Government cuts to youth services since 2011*
The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, is today investing £2.6million in 36 projects across the capital, providing almost 10,000 young Londoners with positive life opportunities.
Sadiq launched the £45m Young Londoners Fund earlier this year to support community groups, charities, youth centres and schools providing much-needed positive events, activities and opportunities for young people in the capital.
The fund is part of a package of measures aimed at encouraging young people to get off the streets and to make the right choices and, for some, diverting them away from criminality and anti-social behaviour.
The Mayor will be investing in projects over the course of the coming months. Today’s announcement will benefit 9,950 young Londoners through 36 London schemes, including everything from theatre groups and employability training to football clubs and art sessions.
It follows an investment of £750,000 made in July to 15 schools to provide safe, positive summer activities and ongoing support for more than 2,000 of the most vulnerable young Londoners.
In contrast, central government continues to cut vital services. £39m has been lost from London’s youth services since 2011, meaning that local authorities have had their youth service budgets cut by an average of 44 per cent, resulting in the closure of 81 youth centres and the loss of at least 800 full-time youth workers in the capital*.
Young people, especially those from the 10 boroughs most affected by knife and violent crime, will spend time through these projects gaining invaluable skills that are designed to help them reach their full potential. Details of the projects will be searchable on an interactive map hosted on the City Hall website at www.london.gov.uk/our-london The map, launched in August, features more than 400 activities – including a number funded by the Mayor - stretching the length and breadth of the capital and has been helping young Londoners and their families search for activities in their local area.
Today, the Mayor visited a Chance to Shine Street Cricket project running at Grafton Primary School in Islington. There he had a chance to see how the Young Londoners Fund will help Chance to Shine use cricket to help raise aspirations, promote social cohesion and create opportunities for young people in diverse communities.
The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said: “Crippling government cuts, begun by George Osborne in 2010 and continued by Theresa May, to local authorities, youth services and policing have led to a rise in violent crime. Cuts really do have consequences.
“In response, I have established the Young Londoners Fund as a key part of my long-term approach to tackling knife and violent crime in the capital. By investing in projects, and young people, that are dedicated to giving young Londoners an opportunity to get involved in positive activities, we can work to help every child and teenager at risk off the streets, and away from the dangers of crime.
“The projects we’ve invested in are already making a difference to young people in London and this next phase of the £45m programme, backed up by £2.6m of City Hall investment, will help provide valuable life opportunities for almost 10,000 young Londoners.”
Laura Cordingley, Chief Executive at Chance to Shine, said “We’re delighted that the Mayor’s Young Londoners Fund will be supporting Chance to Shine Street for the next 12 months. This will ensure that we can provide positive, accessible and local opportunities for children and young adults to play cricket. Offering a safe space to play cricket, helping them to develop, make new friends and to feel more integrated within their communities.
“We believe that the power of cricket can help young people learn important skills like teamwork, communication and resilience that will benefit them throughout their lives.”
Other projects receiving City Hall funding is South Central Youth – who will deliver their You Are Not Alone project providing weekly sessions to 250 young women in schools across London raising awareness about the issues of gang violence and sexual violence – and Lewisham Youth Theatre, who are also working hard to support engagement and progression in young people with their outreach drama activities in community settings, helping more than 1,000 Lewisham locals with their additional £90,000 funding.
Victoria Shaskan, Executive Director at Lewisham Youth Theatre, said: “We’re so pleased to be partnering with Mayor Sadiq Khan and the GLA to help engage more Lewisham young people in activities that give them a voice and expand their horizons. Lewisham Youth Theatre (LYT) involve young people aged 8-24 in drama and theatre activities and performances as a tool to transform young lives. Over 70% of our participants face significant disadvantage, and have a range of needs. Every day, we see the difference that having a safe space where they can be themselves, make friends and have their voices heard makes – how it raises the confidence, ambitions and outlook of our participants. The Young Londoners Fund will help us to give more young people this opportunity – particularly those who are vulnerable or who wouldn’t have the confidence to join a group like ours on their own. We’re excited for more young people to have an experience like one recent participant who said, ‘I feel free, I feel happy, and I feel proud because I did a performance. The only thing I need to do now is be proud of myself.’”
Ann Lucas, Chief Executive at South Central Youth, said: “South Central Youth is a Specialist Youth Provision delivering intensive mentoring, therapeutic support, detached youth work and self-development sessions.
“The young people who attend our programmes face considerable adversity and our intervention empowers them to embrace their qualities giving them the strength and tools to build their future. One young person told us that “you all changed my life... you guys have opened so much doors for me and just changed my whole mindset about life and helped me find the real me. The Young Londoners Fund will give us the opportunity to support more young people through the delivery of our Safe Space sessions in schools and bespoke support to young people at risk of exploitation and sexual violence.”
Other community groups receiving funds include a dedicated provision of domestic abuse services for young people in Bromley, Construkt, a practical introduction into careers in construction and engineering, as well as Khulisa, who provide specialist emotional and social skills training for young people at risk of exclusion.
The £45m Young Londoners Fund was created by Sadiq in March as a means to support education, sport and cultural activities for young people to help tackle knife crime and youth violence, which has been rising across the country since 2014. It particularly seeks to help young Londoners who might otherwise be at risk of getting caught up in crime by providing aspirational and positive activities to help them reach their true potential.
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