The formation of this team follows recently commissioned research for the Government Office for the East of England, that is assisting with the development of a strategic regional overview of programmes that help prevent young people becoming involved in crime, or becoming victims of crime.
In addition the Government Green Paper - ‘Every Child Matters’ and the 'Prolific and Other Priority Offender’ (PPO) strategies, in particular the Prevent and Deter strand, have highlighted the need for the development of further support for the region in relation to young people and their inclusion in the community safety agenda.
Our mission statement is:
The Youth Inclusion and Support Team will work to improve the safety of young people and their communities by supporting those who know, those who care and those who are willing to make it happen.
We will do this through:
1. Supporting Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership’s (CDRP) in their work with young people by keeping abreast of current research and legislation.
2. Promoting closer working relationships between youth agencies and the CDRP’s in order to obtain a more ‘joined up’ thinking approach to young peoples needs, by
- developing a Regional network to share ‘best practice’ including publishing a best practice guide
- help develop monitoring and reporting frameworks
- arranging workshops on key themes and research, e.g. Ryogens
- help develop a resource for project development, e.g. professional support for applications, to for example the ‘Big Lottery – Youth Fund
- help develop local networks to support youth project development
3. Focusing on children and young people primarily in the age group of 8 -19 years old.
4. Encouraging the development of local Youth Community Safety Strategies that will then champion/develop programmes of activity that help prevent young people at a greatest risk of being involved in criminal behaviour.
These strategies will be young people centred and enable them to
- contribute to their local communities
- feel heard and valued
- help shape their lives and futures
- improve their image within the communities within which they live
5. Encouraging the range of youth topics addressed to be more inclusive of the following
- Race and Culture
- Specific Rural and Urban issues
- Drugs and substance misuse
- Homelessness
- Youth Crime and Anti Social Behaviour
- Young people as victims
6.Enabling the implementation of Government Office for the East of England cross team coordination of children and young people centred community safety policies as and when they are developed.
