In July 2020, we launched our £6.4m COVID-19 Learning Project for organisations based in England and Wales. The grant had two aims: first, to provide targeted support to young people at risk of being involved in violence; and second, to learn fast about the best ways to reach young people during a period of social distancing.

In total, 129 organisations were awarded funding from this special round to support the delivery of services and activities, including online and virtual programmes, targeted work in schools and detached youth work (youth work which takes place without the use of a building or activity, but instead focuses on meeting young people in the spaces where they choose to spend their time).

Our Learning Partner

Led by the Dartington Service Design Lab, Centre for Youth Impact, Research in Practice and University of Plymouth, the Learning Partner was established to work closely with our grantees over the course of a year to generate and share learning grounded in evidence.

This learning focuses on how to engage young people at risk of being involved in violence, how the pandemic is affecting the context in which violence manifests, and the strengths of different forms of support, while also being responsive to learning needs as they develop.

The learning is being shared through a series of Insights Briefs.

Insights Brief series

Insight Brief 1: Engaging young people during the COVID-19 pandemic

We’ve produced this Insights Brief to help organisations working with children and young people. It’s particularly useful if you’re working with children living in difficult circumstances, who might be at risk of becoming involved in crime and violence.

It provides clear, practical advice to help when face-to-face support and group activities can’t go ahead safely, offering guidance on how you can continue to build strong, positive relationships even at a time of social distancing.

Insights Brief 2: Learning and adapting to support young people – how a core components approach can help

This Insights Briefs from our COVID-19 Learning Project explores a ‘core components’ approach to working with young people. It offers guidance on how to break down your programme or service into individual ‘components’ and explains how taking this approach could help you to adapt your work.

Insights Brief 3: Evaluation in times of uncertainty – applying learning from COVID-19

Our Learning Partners produced this Insights Brief to provide advice for organisations about how to get ready for evaluation. It also includes recommendations for funders and commissioners, so that they can better support their grantees.