YMCA lands £300,000 for street youth work

The projects are part of Better Futures, a national scheme backed with £300,000 over three years from the Clothworkers’ Foundation and managed by YMCA England.

The scheme aims to tackle the root causes of the August 2011 riots and engage with 10- to 25-year-olds who are not yet known to local services but may be at risk of ending up in the youth justice system.

The three YMCAs – North Tyneside, Sutton Coldfield and Thames Gateway – will focus their work on inner city areas with high levels of deprivation, and hope to help young people access local services and youth activities that will steer them away from crime.

“By giving young people access to these opportunities, you are effectively giving them a stake in their own society and the confidence that someone believes in them,” said Denise Hatton, chief executive of YMCA England.

“This is the most important thing we can do when trying to break the cycle of deprivation.”

Christine Douglas, head of trust and statutory fundraising at YMCA England, said the outcomes of the work will be evaluated and used to inform the work of other YMCAs.

The lessons from the work will also be used to produce a toolkit for detached youth workers that will be developed by the three YMCAs, the National Federation for Detached Youth Work and Dynamo International.