The Pupils Understanding Problems In their Locality (PUPILS) project is being led by Cynon Valley Crime Prevention Association and focuses on developing young people's skills and supporting their education.
Teachers, police and community workers will offer support such as numeracy and literacy courses. The project also has a focus on mentoring.
The project, available to 11- to 19-year-olds, involves pupils developing their own action plan.
Wales social justice minister Brian Gibbons said: "This scheme will give young people at risk of losing out a real opportunity to tackle some of the issues that may be preventing them from progressing, while benefiting the wider community through good citizenship and improving their community safety skills."
Areas involved in the project, which aims to support 2,000 young people, are Torfaen, Merthyr Tydfil, Caerphilly, Bridgend, Rhondda Cynon Taf and Blaenau Gwent.
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