Rockingham Estate to share in City Hall fund to tackle violence

The Violence Reduction Unit's MyEnds programme aims to bring together local groups and individuals as part of a local community network that involves residents, community groups, young people, youth outreach workers, local authority wardens and the police.

After receiving 31 applications, the VRU has now awarded eight community consortiums with funding and support from City Hall.

Each community network will receive up to £750,000 funding by April 2023, as well as ongoing support from London's VRU.

In Southwark, the consortium is led by the Active Communities Network and their work will cover the Rockingham Estate in SE1 as well as the North Peckham Estate, Brandon Estate and Aylesbury Estate.

The consortiums will be investing in a variety of activities and projects, including mentoring, parent support, youth work, training young people in dealing with trauma and mental health, establishing community champions and developing a community leadership programme for local residents. In some cases, this will involve increasing capacity of well-established programmes and activities so they can be provided more regularly, or to help more people.

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said: "The underlying causes of crime are complex and deep-rooted, made worse by a decade of Government cuts to policing, youth clubs and community services.

"I'm committed to being tough on crime by investing more in policing than any other Mayor, and tough on the causes of crime by funding hundreds of positive opportunities for young Londoners in high crime areas of the capital.

"I set up London's Violence Reduction Unit – the first in the country – to lead a public health approach to tackling the causes, and while it's positive that violence fell both before and during the pandemic, it's clear there is more to do.

"The VRU is committed to tackling violence before it occurs. Investing in programmes like MyEnds is about putting communities at the forefront, supporting them and giving them the tools they need to drive down violence and make our city safer for all Londoners."

Former Lambeth leader Lib Peck, director of London's Violence Reduction Unit, said: "I was really impressed with the high calibre of applications, particularly the passion, commitment and drive there is amongst community groups to really get to grips with tackling violence.

"We know that violence knows no border, and it's not often focused on an entire borough or area of London. Instead, it tends to be very localised and concentrated on estates or small pockets of roads. Experience tells us that it's often local people who know what's best for improving the area they live and work in, and that's why we're supporting local people and local communities to help bring about change and provide better opportunities for young people.

"Through the MyEnds programme we have gained an even deeper understanding of the community strength there is to violence reduction and I'm really looking forward to working with the eight consortiums on solutions to driving down violence and helping them create a safer area they can be even prouder to call home."