Southern Co-op supporting charities working with offenders

Young Ealing Foundation used funding to help grassroots organisations working with young people

More funding is being offered by Southern Co-op for community projects in the borough of Ealing area to help tackle the causes of crime.

The first round of grants by the Safer Neighbourhood Fund provided support to the Young Ealing Foundation in 2020 and now another £120,000 is available for communities most impacted by crime

The Co-op says that initial tranche of £100,000 has led to more than 1,300 people being supported including offenders and/or those at risk of offending. According to four of the projects working with offenders, their estimated reoffending rates were between 0% and 4.2% - a significant reduction from the national average of 26-32%*.

The Young Ealing Foundation, used the funding to support grassroots organisations working with children and young people through its Tackling Youth Violence Forum. According to the Young Ealing Foundation, 85% of attendees at the forum said they felt more aware of the support available to tackle youth violence. 100% of the grassroots groups attending said they felt the forum and support it provides was helpful. the Tackling Youth Violence Forum has had guest speakers from the Police, Ealing Council, GLA's Violence Reduction Unit, education and domestic violence charities.

The Young Ealing Foundation said, "The purpose of the sector is to bring together the community and the voluntary sector, who are working to tackle the issue of youth violence.

"Through our forum we have been able to create dialogue, particularly between the local council and grassroots groups. These discussions have been absolutely vital to exposing where there are gaps in service and how collectively we can support one another to close these gaps."

Mark Smith, Chief Executive of Southern Co-op, said, "There have been some positive steps forward in the last few years but sadly crime is still on the increase. So we need to continue to tackle business crime from every angle to protect our colleagues and customers to enable us to continue to serve local communities across the south.

"The previous round of funding was such a success that we are opening up the opportunities to even more people - this will mean a total of £220,000 donated to local causes and projects.

"Hopefully we can replicate the previous results and help more people to overcome personal barriers and move away from criminal behaviours."

Of the people supported by all of the good causes, more than half improved their resilience or confidence and just over 600 overcame specific personal barriers such as obtaining vital ID for benefits and work, finding secure accommodation, stopping dependence on alcohol, and finding employment.
Other results saw a reduction in negative health and wellbeing behaviours such as abstaining from substance misuse.

More than 25,000 incidents are expected to be reported across Southern Co-op's businesses this year. In 2021, compared to 2020, there was more than a 50% increase in offences which impacted its colleagues such as violence or the threat of violence and abuse.

A total of 15 grants up to £8,000 are available. The Safer Neighbourhood Fund is currently open for expressions of interest and applications open on Monday 5 September for six weeks. The deadline is Friday 14 October with applicants notified in November on whether they have been successful.

If you are a local charity or good cause supporting offenders and/or those at risk of offending, find out more here.

September 28, 2022