St Christopher’s is delighted to announce our success in partnership with Barnet Council as one of the first grantees of the Youth Endowment Fund. We will be mentoring young people aged 10-14 whose siblings are known to the youth justice system.

Our project will work with young people over an 8-10 week period. However, if a young person wishes to stay in ad-hoc contact afterwards then we will enable that to happen so that they have a trusted adult to talk to. The aim is for young people to feel valued and better able to identify the risks involved in offending, which will reduce local youth offending overall.

The project will run for the next two years, with £318,000 funding from the Youth Endowment Fund.

Studies have shown that for each member of a family that offends, the chances of the others offending increases. Offending, gang activity and child criminal exploitation is more likely for children whose siblings are in the criminal justice system.

Younger siblings often miss out on statutory interventions aimed at addressing their older sibling’s offending, so our project is designed to meet this need.

The Youth Endowment Fund is dedicated to building the evidence base to determine what works and support improved outcomes for children and young people. Each project will be evaluated to build and share knowledge of the types of interventions which are most effective at preventing young people from being drawn in to crime and violence.

This new project builds on St Christopher’s expertise supporting young people involved in county lines, gangs or youth violence through the Trusted Spaces and Runaways services. Our model is based on building genuine relationships with young people so that we can grow their self-confidence and help them reach their full potential.

Jonathan Whalley, Chief Executive of St Christopher’s, said: “I am delighted to be developing this service for a group of young people that are often overlooked by existing services. Building on our partnership with Barnet Council will help us to create brighter futures for more children and young people.”

Sir Kevan Collins, Chair of the Youth Endowment Fund said: “The safety and wellbeing of young people is our first priority. Our first round of grants is the start of a 10 year programme of work designed to build a better understanding of what works to prevent young people being drawn into crime and violence.”

Councillor David Longstaff, Chairman of Barnet Council’s Children, Education and Safeguarding Committee, said: “I’m very pleased that our partnership with St Christopher’s has resulted in a successful bid for a substantial sum of money to help improve the lives of some of our most vulnerable young people. Their safety and wellbeing is of paramount importance to us and the work of St Christopher’s aims to support younger siblings of young people involved in offending to break that cycle and instead to reach their full potential in life.”