The Neighbourhood Support Fund was renewed for a second phase, wasn't it? Must have worked then. Yes, this is a very positive story of the first running of a scheme launched in 1999. The aim was to support the voluntary and community sector in its work with "hard to reach" 13- to 19-year-olds and re-engage them, using youth work approaches, with education, employment and training. It was worth 60m over three years and supported some 650 projects in the 40 most deprived areas of England.
Sod watching Big Brother, I'll take it home this evening. Actually, you might feel you can get by with the executive summary. You remember last week's tale about young people in market towns (YPN, 2-8 June, p11)?
Of course ... Well that was based on a brightly written, analytical yet impressionistic account of people at the coalface of communities. This report is its evil twin. Big respect to the National Foundation for Educational Research posse, but this is some of the most bloodless prose you'll come across this year. However, they're not paid to paint word pictures, but to give us the facts.
So what do we find out? It did reach target groups. The projects worked with a total of 50,000 young people, 5,000 more than the target set for them. Moreover, they had successfully engaged the hard to reach. Fifty-five per cent had low educational achievement, a quarter were long-term non-attenders, 16 per cent were excluded from school, a quarter were offenders or at risk of becoming so, seven per cent had a drug or alcohol dependency, and so on.
But did the projects make a difference? Absolutely. Sixty-eight per cent progressed to a positive outcome, 57 per cent into learning or employment, 11 per cent to Connexions. Most who did have a positive outcome remained engaged nine months later. Many young people also benefited from improvements in self-confidence, self-esteem and new skills. Schools reported fewer exclusions. And local partners reported good, erm, partnerships.
So just what you'd expect from good youth work? Much of the Neighbourhood Support Fund appears to be well-focused local youth work. Phrases such as "critical to the success of the projects was the ability of the workers to build a relationship of trust and respect with young people" may not tell us an awful lot we didn't know. But it doesn't hurt to have it said in formal reports like these.
What next? We're in the second phase of the Neighbourhood Support Fund.
Will Connexions and the Learning and Skills Council accept the logic of these findings? Do they have the mindset to move on from individual advice and harder-edged qualifications? Will the Government take note of this evidence and support the integration of the Neighbourhood Support Fund approach into the Tomlinson reforms of 14-19 education?
FACT BOX
- Neighbourhood Support Fund projects were delivered by voluntary and community sector groups with the support of three agents: the Community Development Foundation, The National Youth Agency and the Learning Alliance
- The impact of the agents in providing training, advice and critical support was welcomed by the vast majority of projects and was crucial in helping small, local organisations to deliver
- Routing resources through local groups, with national support, was a key factor in providing successful, flexible projects
- Read the report, Supporting the hardest-to-reach young people, at www.dfes.gov.uk/research.
