Our funding approach
We want to prevent children and young people becoming involved in violence. That’s why our funding is focused on early intervention, supporting those aged between 10 and 14-years old.
We fund work in England and Wales that aims to prevent children and young people from becoming involved in violence. We have particular focus on those aged between 10 and 14-years old.
As part of our funding approach, we will evaluate every programme and activity we fund. We do this because we want to learn what works, for whom and why.
The knowledge we obtain will be used to scale up effective programmes, spread good practice and guide decision makers on which services or approaches are most likely to keep young people safe.
We offer three types of funding
1. Themed rounds
If we want to change things, we’ll have to focus. That’s why much of our funding will be on a focused on key sectors, one or two at any one time. You can read about the sectors we’re focusing on.
2. Place-based
We know that a lot of violent crime happens in very specific local areas. To make a difference, we need to work with the people and organisations who live and work there – they know their communities best. That’s why we’ll work closely with them through our Neighbourhood Fund. Together, we’ll build a better understanding about what’s happening locally and test out the approaches that’ll work best for the area.
We also know how important it is that agencies and services working with young people share information, data and power. So we’ll fund activity to help them work together. And we’ll do all we can to help Violence Reduction Units make sustainable, evidence-based change in their areas.
3. Targeted projects
Sometimes there will be promising projects that don’t fit into our priority themes or our place-based funding. We won’t ignore these. If we identify practices that are widely used but as yet untested, we will provide the resources to evaluate and learn from them.
Our commitment to equality
Children and young people from marginalised backgrounds – including black and Asian children and children who’ve been in care – are significantly overrepresented in the youth justice system. We’re committed to understanding and addressing this inequality.
We’ll make sure that our staff, partnerships, governance and funding reaches and represents the children we are here to serve. We will work to make sure that our work reaches young people from all backgrounds. We will make sure that charities led by black, Asian and ethnic minority leaders access our funding and knowledge.
To make absolute sure of this, we have partnered with The Phoenix Way to distribute £10 million in funding to Black, Asian and other minority-led charities and community groups that are working to prevent children and young people becoming involved in violence.
We know that it’s just a start, and there’s more we will do. We’re committed to continuing to work with you to make sure our funds, the knowledge we build and our work for change all work towards a society where every child can thrive.