The What if ... campaign is being run in partnership with national volunteering charity TimeBank.
Crime Concern set up its mentoring programme eight years ago, and has been running its youth inclusion programmes for five years. The charity depends on volunteers for much of its community-based work in high-crime areas, and currently has about 700 volunteers working with 3,000 13- to 18-year-olds in England and Wales.
In a TimeBank survey of 11- to 17-year-olds identified as being at risk of offending, 89 per cent said that mentors were a good way of discouraging young people from crime.
Adrian Smith, responsible for assessing Crime Concern projects, said: "We have a need for volunteers all over the country. Many volunteers are working with at-risk young people, which can be quite challenging. Some volunteers prefer not to commit to a second year, so the mentoring relationship becomes much more informal."
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