Community groups will work together to help disaffected young people in Enfield reach their full potential thanks to £1.3million funding of Greater London Authority funding.
The project “Inspiring Young Enfield” will see Enfield Council co-ordinate the activities of 20 community organisations to provide help and support around 5,000 young people living in the borough’s most deprived areas over the scheme’s three year lifetime.
The projects – paid for by the Mayor of London’s Young Londoners Fund following a successful bid from Enfield Council- will reduce crime, increase social cohesion and integration, improve job prospects and help young people make good life decisions.
Enfield Council’s Leader, Cllr Nesil Caliskan, said: “Enfield Council is determined to ensure that every child in Enfield grows up in a safe environment, gets a good education and has the chance to achieve their dreams.
“Those young people in Enfield who feel most disaffected and are at risk of making bad life choices are going to be the main beneficiaries of this project.
“We know who they and where they are, and we’re going to help them by giving them the support they need to reach their full potential.
“Young people in the more deprived parts of our borough face a range of problems which make it difficult for them to achieve their dreams we’ll help by providing them with the support they require from inside their communities.
“Enfield Council and its partners will be providing a range of opportunities to help young people into employment, mentoring and learning schemes while enabling them to access sport, arts and culture and improve their mental and physical health.”
Inspiring Young Enfield will be delivered through 23 projects for 10-21 year olds. They will include peer mentoring, sports-based support schemes, art, drama and music workshops and education, training and employment schemes.
As well as supporting young people, there will also be support for families at risk of being involved in criminal activity.
The activities will be provided in sports clubs, community halls, youth
centres and schools in the areas the targeted young people live to make the services more accessible and help them feel part of the neighbourhoods they live in.
Inspiring Young Enfield builds on previous work done to engage and support young people in the borough.
Last year the Council commissioned a £100,000 ‘Summer University’ programme with more than 1,000 places for young people in the borough.
Particular attention was paid to those young people who were in vulnerable situations, with the Council working with more than 30 local organisations and national charities to help maximise the benefits of the initiative.
Enfield has the fourth largest youth population in London and more children affected by poverty than any other London borough as well as the highest number of children with one or more fixed term exclusions from schools.
The borough has the second highest level of youth crime in London as of 1 June 2019 and ranks third in the capital for serious youth violence which has increased by a third in the borough in the last five years.
The borough ranks 8th in London for knife crime and saw a 4.2 per cent increase for the year to 1 April 2019, compared with a capital wide reduction of 0.9 per cent during the same period.