A new deal for young people? Lessons from VRUs and ambitions for young people’s futures

How do we get a better deal for young people in London? The Mayor of London continues to fund high-quality mentoring across the capital and dedicate funding to London’s Violence Reduction Unit. Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has announced the Young Futures unit as her strategic path forward to see a halving of violence involving young people across the next decade. These ambitions are welcomed, but what lessons should we learn from the good work already taking place?

Niven Rennie, a leading expert on interventions that work for and with young people draws upon his experience in the police force, as well as the former Director of Scotland’s Violence Reduction Unit and Chair of Hope Collective in drafting an important report ‘Violence Reduction Units at a Crossroads - A Positive Future?’

Join us online to consider both the social and political landscape of youth support. How do we protect young people from involvement in violence by looking upstream at the particular needs and vulnerabilities that young people across London face. We will be discussing the report (worth a read beforehand!) as a foundation to questions about how to influence funders and government to make the evidence-based, sustainable investment in the services that protect young people from the root causes of violence such as poverty, social isolation, ill mental health and lack of educational and employment opportunities. The event will begin with a presentation before moving into an open Q&A.