London’s Violence Reduction Unit invests £1.4m to tackle knife crime

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has announced that £1.4 million is being invested in local community groups that specialise in early intervention to tackle knife crime.

The investment is being made by the Violence Reduction Unit (VRU), which was set up by the Mayor, will provide funding for about 40 community projects that deliver interventions and provide support and diversionary activities for nearly 25,000 young Londoners in high-crime areas.

The fist projects to receive support will provide mentoring, counselling, school-based education schemes and community diversionary activities for young people aged 10-21.

The VRU will carry out project reviews over the next 12 months to understand what works best and to make further decisions on where similar projects would be effective in making early interventions.

The following areas will also be the focus of future support:

• Expanding after-school provision in high-crime areas
• Supporting the transition from primary to secondary school.
• Creating a programme to reduce school exclusions by piloting a programme of inclusion and nurturing.
• Extra support for young people affected by domestic violence.
• Investing in London’s youth workers by developing a programme of training and development to support and grow their profession.
• Working with young people on establishing a Young Persons’ Action Group to feed into decision-making by the VRU.
• Piloting programmes in prisons and young offender institutions