CYP Now - Renewed political spotlight puts focus on reaching out to gangs

Despite encouraging signs that youth violence is on the wane, youth work experts are warning that better co-ordination is needed to engage and divert a hardcore of young people involved in street gangs.

In the time since the government's strategy to tackle youth and gang violence was published in the wake of the August 2011 riots, the issue has fallen down the pecking order of the national media.

But the topic re-emerged into the spotlight last month when Cabinet Office minister Nick Hurd announced a £2m fund for charities working with vulnerable young people, including those at risk of getting involved with gangs, while around the same time Mayor of London Boris Johnson appointed Ray Lewis as the capital's gangs tsar to tackle the problem.

National statistics on gangs and youth violence are scarce, but figures for London indicate that significant progress is already being made.

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