Money awarded to cut gang activity
by Hammersmith and Fulham Press Office
17/06/2008
A £100,000 grant has been awarded to the council as it ups the ante in the battle against youth crime and gangs.
The money will be used to fund a brand new youth worker who will start a pilot project on a completely new way of engaging with young people involved in gangs.
The project, known as the Street Outreach Service (SOS) will identify young people involved in gangs and develop effective working relationships with them and their communities.
Cllr Lillis, Cabinet Member for community and children’s services, said: “Hammersmith & Fulham is a safe place to live and visit but like in other parts of the country, we sometimes encounter problems with gangs. This money will help us to get to the root of the problem by actually engaging by those who cause, or are at danger of causing these anti-social problems.”
The money has been awarded by the John Lyon’s Charity, a charity that exists to enhance life conditions and improve life chances of young people through education. They want to ensure the council works in partnership with voluntary agencies to address this issue and discover how effective this new way of working can be.
The model of work is taken in part from the United States and will see the youth worker finding the people in the local community who know and want to help change these known gang members. Together with these supporters and the local police they will agree a plan for change and put it in place. Strong action would be taken against any future gang violence.
As well as reducing gang membership, it is hoped that the scheme will help gang members to access education, training and employment opportunities and will also increase school attendance.
“I’d like to thank the John Lyons Trust for awarding this money,” said Cllr Lillis. “I am sure it is going to have a very positive impact on many young people in Hammersmith & Fulham. We will evaluate this new way of working very carefully to learn how to make the young people safer. However, I would also like to stress that is it up to parents to look after their children and to set a good example. We will do our part but we ask parents to take their responsibilities seriously too.”
