“Keeping our young people safe remains at the forefront of our work” - Council announces Youth Safety Steering Group to continue for another year
Camden Council has announced that the Borough’s Youth Safety Steering Group will continue for at least another year to tackle the emerging issues young people are now facing as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
In 2018, Camden’s Youth Safety Steering Group was set up to oversee and deliver the 17 recommendations made in the Youth Safety Taskforce Report to help reduce youth violence and keep young people safe.
The group includes representatives from the police, Camden’s youth council, schools and youth services and is co-chaired by Holborn and St Pancras MP Keir Starmer and the Council’s Cabinet Member for Young People, Equalities and Cohesion, Cllr Abdul Hai.
Since its formation in 2018, the Youth Safety Steering Group have successfully overseen and coordinated a programme of work by Camden Council, which includes:
- Addressing the 17 recommendations set out in the Youth Safety Taskforce report, with many areas of work now completed and some still ongoing.
- Establishing a £500k Youth Safety Fund to support a range of projects to keep young people safe, including targeted youth outreach work with at risk groups and programmes to help young people to develop life skills and employment skills.
- Launching the ENGAGE and Redthread projects, which place youth workers in police stations and hospitals to provide tailored support and help keep young people away from violence.
- Working with New Horizon Youth Centre on their Constructive Resettlement project supporting pathways for young people leaving custody.
- Successfully applying for funding of £690k from the Mayor of London’s Violence Reduction Unit, which is going towards tackling the drug related drivers of violence, reducing exclusions, reducing reoffending and piloting different ways of working with parents.
- Holding a ‘Disproportionality in Youth Justice’ event in partnership with The Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC).
- Holding Camden’s first-ever ‘Youth Safety Week’ to provide support for the borough’s young people and their families and raise awareness of what is being done locally to help keep Camden’s young people safe.
Initially set up for two years, it has now been announced that the Steering Group will continue building on its vital work to tackle the root cause of youth crime as well as address issues that have emerged as a result of the pandemic, such as youth unemployment.
I am proud of the work that the Youth Safety Steering group has done over the last two years, but there is still more to do.
No young person in our community should live with a fear of violence and I am pleased that we have agreed to continue our work to build a safer future for young people in Camden.
Our goal is to make Camden a place where every young person feels safe and can succeed, and throughout these challenging times, ensuring our young people keep safe has remained at the forefront of our work. I’m proud of what we have managed to achieve so far – however, we know more can and should be done to reduce youth violence in Camden.
As the group continues to build on this vital work, we will now focus on tackling the issues that have been exacerbated by this virus, including youth unemployment and the effects on our Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic communities
During the lockdown period, the Council held regular virtual ‘Shout Outs’ and Youth Voices online forums for young people and also established a youth service helpline to ensure support is available for young people during the pandemic.
In May this year, Camden’s Youth Offending Service were also rated ‘outstanding’ by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation, placing the service as one of the top performers in the country.
Find out more about the Youth Safety Taskforce at www.camden.gov.uk/youth-safety-taskforce
If you would like to contact us or get involved in making Camden safer for our young people, please email [email protected]