The Lloyds TSB Foundation for England and Wales has recently awarded £2.43m in funding to fifteen charities under its Young Offenders programme. The Young Offenders Programme will provide support to charities working to improve the life choices and chances of young offenders, helping them move away from a life of crime. Grants have been awarded to local, regional and national charities with a proven track record of working with young offenders in one or more of the following areas: accommodation; skills training; employment; mentoring; drugs and alcohol; mental health; restorative justice; family support; and relationships.
Young Offenders were selected as a priority area for support as reconviction rates for people between the ages of 15-21 are as high as 75% and targeted support at an early stage can support young people in choosing not to re-offend.
The programme generated a significant level of interest from the sector with over 300 expressions of interest received. The details of all the grants awarded under the programme are provided below.
Aim Project
http://www.aimproject.org.uk
Grant Approved: £60,000 over 3 years
The grant will fund a restorative justice project for young people serving sentences in elements of the juvenile secure estate.
Endeavour Training Limited
http://www.endeavour.org.uk
Grant Approved: £125,400 over 2 years:
The project will work with up to 120 young offenders in South Yorkshire.
The Enthusiasm Trust
http://www.enthusiasm.org.uk
Grant Approved: £205,400 over 3 years
The grant will fund a project targeting young people involved in gang related offending in Derby.
Escape Family Support Group
www.escapefamilysupport.co.uk
Grant Approved: £96,000 over 3 years
This new project will enable a Young Person Family worker to provide in-reach services to Young Offender Institutions in Northumberland and outreach support to their family or carers. Up to 33 young people will be supported each year.
In-volve
www.in-volve.org.uk
Grant Approved: £336,200 over 2 years
The grant will fund the Breakthrough programme for young people at risk
both male and female across the London Boroughs of Newham and Haringey, providing training and support for up to 60 vulnerable young people a year.
Leonard Cheshire Disability
http://www.lcdisability.org
Grant Approved: £160,900 over 2 years
The grant will support the development of the Highway Project working with 60 disabled young offenders each year across London including those in Feltham YOI, and HMP ISIS.
London Action Trust
www.lat.org.uk
Grant Approved: £ 309,300 over 2 years
The grant will fund the The Black Self Development Programme targeting 40 young black men each year at Huntercombe YOI in Oxfordshire.
Making the Change
Grant Approved: £93,000 over 3 years
The grant will contribute to the costs of providing eight supported accommodation places for young people who have served a custodial sentence and who would otherwise be homeless.
NACRO Wales
http://www.nacro.org.uk/services/wales
Grant Approved: £160,000 over 2 years
The grant will support up to 80 young offenders across North Wales by providing a range of interventions including accommodation, to prevent re-offending.
Osmani Trust
www.osmanitrust.org
Grant Approved: £150,000 over 3 years
The grant will substantially fund the Shaathi Mentoring Project - a package of support to 20 BME young offenders each year in East London, especially Tower Hamlets.
St Giles Trust
www.stgilestrust.org.uk
Grant Approved: £132,700 over three years
The grant will support mentoring activity in Bristol Ashfield YOI led by ex-offenders and targeted at 50 individuals aged 14-18 who will be returning to London on their release. The support will be provided both pre-release and longer-term
Shannon Trust
http://www.shannontrust.org.uk
Grant Approved: £339,600 over 3 years
The grant will support this award winning charity in running a national project to establish the Reading Network for young offenders across all Young Offenders Institutions in England and Wales. Literacy levels among young offenders are low and this creates significant barriers to obtaining employment, accommodation and access to services that help prevent re-offending.
South West Community Chaplaincy
www.swcc-pi.org
Grant Approved £107,400 over 3 years
The grant will support a new mentoring service to support young offenders returning to live in the West Country from YOIs Portland in Dorset (18-21 yrs) and Ashfield YOI in Bristol (15-17 yrs) and will support up to 36 people each year.
Switchback
www.switchback.org.uk
Grant Approved: £75,000 over 3 years
The grant will provide a contribution to the Switchback through the gate mentoring project supporting 18-24 year olds to build on skills learnt in prison kitchens. Each Switchback Mentor will work intensively with up to 30 young adult offenders from East London each year.
YMCA ENGLAND
www.ymca.org.uk
Grant Approved: £74,300 over 2 years
The grant will fund targeted though the gate support for up to six months for young women leaving the Josephine Butler Unit in HMP Downview (Surrey)
