Funding announced to help prevent gang culture

Community-backed projects in 21 areas across England will each receive a share of £9.5 million to help families who are vulnerable to the effects of knife crime and gang culture, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Govrnment has announced.

The Supporting Families Against Youth Crime fund will enable keyworkers to intervene early on in order to and help stop children from becoming drawn into gang crime, serious violence and the youth justice system.

A further £300,000 will also be available to train frontline staff on how to tackle childhood trauma, following evidence that many who are vulnerable to serious violence and youth crime have experienced childhood trauma that has affected their mental health and confidence.

The areas and projects being funded have expressed both an existing need and or evidence of emerging needs and cover a range of positive interventions. Some are heavily school focused, working with children before they make the important transition from primary to secondary school. Others will work with smaller groups of young people already at high risk.

It is intended that the learning derived from each of the projects will be shared nationally. As part of these further measures to intervene early, this spring will also see the launch of the next phase of #knifefree - a campaign, aimed at young people, looks to inspire them to pursue positive alternatives.