Youth work week is here, a good time to reflect on this important profession, practice, and approach. A profession that evoked passion in me and has been a driving force in my career, I imagine there are thousands within the youth sector who would say the same – you might be one or working with many…

…because young people matter! For those in the youth sector, the role of youth voice lies at the heart of all we do. This is integral to my role as YEF’s Youth Voice and Project Officer. I am part of the Youth Understanding team and I believe it is very important that youth voice is…

The UK riots in August 2024 brought to light significant issues facing the nation’s young people, with a worrying number of teenagers involved in the disturbances. As the situation has calmed, it’s become clear that many of those arrested were young people, prompting crucial discussions about how the justice system handles teenagers and what steps…

Two questions I get asked a lot as head of the Youth Endowment Fund is “does social media cause violence?” and “what do we do about it?” So, here’s my attempt at some answers. Does social media cause violence? The short answer is we don’t know, but I think it’s likely. Here’s the thing: there…

Bringing together stories from 1000s of young people The efforts of Peer Researchers and the Delivery Partner organisations supporting them yielded a remarkable amount rich qualitative data from 4,600 young people on issues of violence. Initially, our priority was to validate GenAI’s capability to precisely analyse the diverse data originating from various locations throughout England…

It is five years since the Youth Endowment Fund was born. Five years is a long time – I know because I had a three-year-old when this work started. She’s been replaced by someone who is eight.   We exist because she should be growing up in a world where all children feel safe. But that’s…

The study was commissioned to synthesise learning about the design, implementation and effectiveness of place-based approaches.

What works to prevent anti-social behaviour? The Anti-Social Behaviour Action Plan was published this week. It sets out the Government’s approach to stamping out anti-social behaviour across England and Wales. BBC Radio 4 – Today programme In response, Jon Yates – Executive Director of the Youth Endowment Fund – spoke to the Today programme to…

By Dame Rachel de Souza, Children’s Commissioner for England Over the past year, 39% of teenage children in England and Wales have either been either a victim of or witness to violence. These experiences have significant and widespread consequences – 1 in 7 teenagers said they’d missed school because they’re scared of violence. The same…

The work we do at the Youth Endowment Fund on evaluation and research is central to achieving our mission – to keep children and young people from becoming involved in violence. It’s true that we’re funder; since 2019, we’ve committed a huge amount of money – £56 million – to some incredible grantees. The approaches…

Our Assistant Director of Research and Youth Understanding, Peter Babudu, explains why the YEF needs to focus on race equity to achieve our mission and what we're going to do.

To celebrate International Youth Day we chat to Lily about the work of the Peer Action Collective and being a member of the YEF's Youth Advisory Board.