The Neighbourhood Fund
Understanding if and how empowering people to make decisions about their local neighbourhoods can prevent children from becoming involved in violence.
Evaluation type
Funding round
Neighbourhood Fund – Round 1Setting
Evaluator
| Projects | Funding | Region |
|---|---|---|
| Aston Villa Foundation | £1,000,000 | West Midlands |
| Born in Bradford | £1,000,000 | Yorkshire and the Humber |
| Right to Succeed | £1,000,000 | East of England |
| Young Manchester | £1,000,000 | North West |
| Citizens UK | £1,000,000 | Wales |
The programme
The Neighbourhood Fund aims to find out whether giving people a greater role in decisions about their local neighbourhood can help prevent children and young people from becoming involved in violence. It funds locally led partnerships in five areas: Birmingham, Bradford, Cardiff, Manchester and Norfolk.
Between 2021 and 2023, each partnership identified a neighbourhood with high levels of youth violence, worked with the local community to understand the issue and developed a local action plan. These plans are now being put into practice.
Why did we fund this evaluation?
Violence involving children and young people is often concentrated in particular neighbourhoods. This fund aims to support the people living in those neighbourhoods to work together, identify the needs and strengths in their area and develop evidence-based violence prevention responses tailored to their needs. It will test different models and approaches to community engagement to better understand how, where and why it supports improved outcomes for children at risk of becoming involved in violence.
Evidence about similar place-based approaches is currently limited: confidence in the estimated impact of Communities that Care is very low, and most studies have been conducted outside the UK. The Neighbourhood Fund shares principles of community empowerment, local action planning and coordinated partnership working. This evaluation will therefore add important UK evidence about how these approaches can be implemented effectively.
The Implementation and Process evaluation of the Neighbourhood Fund uses a combination of surveys, interviews with stakeholders, focus groups with children and young people and monitoring data to help us understand participant experiences and how this type of approach can work in areas where there are higher numbers of children at risk of crime and violence.
What did we find?
| Neighbourhood Fund Annual Report 1 (October 2024) The first report describes the initial implementation of the first round of the Neighbourhood Fund, which is taking place in five sites in England and Wales (Birmingham, Bradford, Cardiff, Manchester, and Norfolk). It examines the transition from the preparatory phases to the action plan phase, and the various approaches that sites are taking to delivering their plans. Early findings (based on the preparatory phases and first year of delivery) regarding how well the action plans are being delivered are also included, as are initial insights from the learning partners, Renaisi-TSIP, that have supported the sites throughout the process. This phase of the evaluation started in December 2023 and concluded in April 2024. Data for this first annual report was drawn from qualitative interviews with 11 members of lead coordinator organisations and 28 steering group members/delivery partners using framework analysis, which organises content according to pre-specified themes. The report also drew on each site’s quarterly reports of programme implementation and their action plans, the learning partner’s reports for each site and for the programme as a whole, and observations of programme meetings. The findings from this first stage may be downloaded below. |
| Neighbourhood Fund Annual Report 2 (October, 2025) The second report describes an implementation and process evaluation of the second year of action plan delivery (2024/2025), again, synthesising findings across all five sites. This report explores what approaches delivery partners are taking to deliver action plans, how well action plans are being delivered, and stakeholders’ and children and young people’s perceptions of the programme. Data were collected for this second report through an online survey with 39 partners; 27 interviews with lead coordinators, delivery partners and steering group members; and focus groups with 46 children and young people, exploring their experiences of the programme and suggestions for improvement. Monitoring data and document review were also used. The second phase of the evaluation started in November 2024 and concluded in May 2025. The findings from this first stage may be downloaded below. |
| Neighbourhood Fund Annual Report 3 (October, 2026) This is the third annual report in the ongoing delivery and evaluation. Delivery has continued and expanded across all sites, with delivery partners reaching a large and diverse group of CYP. Delivery partners used a range of locally tailored and youth-centred activities, including sports, mentoring, creative programmes, educational support and employability initiatives. Year 3 represents a consolidation phase aiming to strengthen, stabilise and embed what has been achieved in previous years. Delivery of action plans is generally progressing well. However, partnerships reported experiencing increasing capacity, governance and coordination pressures. These findings varied between sites and were based on a small survey sample so these changes should be interpreted cautiously. Stakeholders and CYP generally reported positive experiences of the programme, particularly around CYP confidence, wellbeing, social connections, sense of belonging, skills and employability. There was also evidence of CYP moving beyond participation into youth leadership and community organising. Sustainability is now a central challenge for the programme. Grassroots organisations reported challenges with capacity, securing staff and venues, demand exceeding provision, inconsistent participation in steering groups and inconsistent recording practices for the monitoring data. Sustainability requires continued support for capacity building of grassroots organisations, more widely distributed leadership, stronger steering group structures and early planning for future funding and legacy. |
What will YEF do next?
There will be a further annual report in 2027, with a final report in 2028, incorporating findings from all five years of the delivery and evaluation of the Neighbourhood Fund. These reports will focus more on systems change outcomes, such as enhanced community cohesion, stronger partnership working and improved service coordination. They will also look at evidence of impact on children and young people, such as on their wellbeing, leadership, confidence, social skills and perceptions of safety.
Downloads
- Aston Villa FoundationNeighbourhoodsIn progress
Aston Villa Foundation
Through our Neighbourhood Fund, we are investing and building long-term partnerships in 5 hyper-local areas in England and Wales.Project name:
The Neighbourhood FundFunding (Project and Evaluation):
£1,000,000Evaluation types:
Impact evaluationIn progress - Born in BradfordNeighbourhoodsIn progress
Born in Bradford
Through our Neighbourhood Fund, we are investing and building long-term partnerships in 5 hyper-local areas in England and Wales.Project name:
The Neighbourhood FundFunding (Project and Evaluation):
£1,000,000Evaluation types:
Impact evaluationIn progress - Citizens UKNeighbourhoodsIn progress
Citizens UK
Through our Neighbourhood Fund, we are investing and building long-term partnerships in 5 hyper-local areas in England and Wales.Project name:
The Neighbourhood FundFunding (Project and Evaluation):
£1,000,000Evaluation types:
Impact evaluationIn progress - Young ManchesterNeighbourhoodsIn progress
Young Manchester
Through our Neighbourhood Fund, we are investing and building long-term partnerships in 5 hyper-local areas in England and WalesProject name:
The Neighbourhood FundFunding (Project and Evaluation):
£1,000,000Evaluation types:
Impact evaluationIn progress - Right to SucceedNeighbourhoodsIn progress
Right to Succeed
Through our Neighbourhood Fund, we are investing and building long-term partnerships in 5 hyper-local areas in England and WalesProject name:
The Neighbourhood FundFunding (Project and Evaluation):
£1,000,000Evaluation types:
Impact evaluationIn progress