A trusted adult

Applications are now closed.

Introduction

The Youth Endowment Fund exists to prevent children and young people becoming involved in violence. We do this by finding out what works and building a movement to put this knowledge into practice.

When a child or young person is vulnerable and in need of support, having an adult in their life who they can turn to for help, guidance and reassurance can make a big difference. For some, this might be a family member. But others may feel more comfortable seeking help from someone outside their family or friends – for example a youth worker, sport coach or a key or case worker.

In our A trusted adult grant round, we’re looking to fund and evaluate projects where trusted adult relationships – outside of the family environment – is a defining or core feature of their work to improve outcomes for children and young people who have been or are at high-risk of being affected by violence, offending and/or exploitation.

The question we’re aiming to answer:

Do approaches that focus on building positive and trusted relationships with an adult outside of the family environment lead to improved outcomes for children and young people (primarily aged 10-18) with the greatest unmet needs that put them at high risk of being affected by violence, offending an /or exploitation?

What we’re aiming to invest in

We’ll aim to identify around 6 to 10 projects to fund and evaluate. We’re planning to spend between £8 million and £12.5 million depending on how well applications meet our criteria.

Projects must be delivered in either England and/or Wales.

Scope of the round: Who we’re looking to support

The focus of this round is on supporting children and young people who have been or are at high-risk of being affected by violence, offending and/or exploitation (often referred to as ‘tertiary level prevention’).

Specifically, children and young people who are:

• Primarily aged 10 to 18 years old.

And have one or more of the following key characteristics or unmet needs:

• Affiliation with groups (often referred to as gangs) involved in crime, violence and trafficking.
• Affected by serious violence, criminal or sexual exploitation (as perpetrators and/or victims).
• Part of families with history of harmful or challenging behaviour and repetitive cycles of abuse, trauma and neglect.

And are:

• In contact with services that target youth offending and/or affiliation with groups involved in violence and/or child criminal or sexual exploitation.
• Have been in custody or known to the police and multi-agency safeguarding teams.

Scope of the round: What we’ll fund

We’re looking to fund and evaluate projects that assign children or young people either an adult mentor or a key or case worker to act as a trusted adult.

That means we’ll invest in:

1. Mentoring projects (tertiary level) – this involves children or young people being assigned an adult mentor.

or

2. Key and case worker projects (tertiary level) – this involves children or young people being assigned a keyworker or caseworker.

Activities may include:

• Building genuine trusted relationships that demonstrate care about the young person and their future.
• Setting goals, motivating young people and empowering them to solve problems.
• Providing information, advice and guidance to address practical issues such as housing, employment and debt.
• Signposting to and advocating for access to other services.
• Actively engaging in changing attitudes and thinking and developing skills for reflective thinking.
• Finding opportunities to engage in positive activities (e.g. sport, theatre, music).

Integrated approaches: All projects funded through this grant round must include mentoring or a key/case worker, but they can also include other components as well. For example: therapeutic work; positive leisure activities; signposting to other services, including advocacy or immigration support; education, employment or training opportunities; housing support; finance and debt support; or drug and alcohol support.

Full details of what’s in and out of scope for this round can be found in the accompanying application guidance. Download below:

Other areas of interest

As part of our A trusted adult themed round, we’re also interested in learning more about violence interrupter models and detached and outreach youth work. If you deliver either of these approaches, please click on the relevant link below for more details.

Background to the round

Caleb, our Head of Change for Youth and Criminal Justice, explains why we’re focusing on trusted adults.

Funded projects

Through this grant round we’re investing £10 million to expand and evaluate four established mentoring programmes across England and Wales.

Media Academy Cymru – Cerridwen 

• Total YEF funding awarded (including evaluation costs): £2 million

• Evaluator: Cordis Bright

Over five months, young people will benefit from weekly one-to-one mentoring sessions with trained youth workers to address the underlying factors contributing to their violent behaviour. They will receive support to understand their feelings and emotions, develop positive self-identities and learn healthy ways to express themselves without resorting to violence.

St Giles – SOS+

• Total YEF funding awarded (including evaluation costs): £2.1 million

• Evaluator: National Centre for Social Research (NatCen)

Ten mentors – each with personal experience and knowledge of the challenges and issues facing young people today, will work in 20 schools across five regions for two years. During this time, they’ll provide young people who are vulnerable to violence and exploitation with six months of weekly one-to-one mentoring sessions. Within these sessions, SOS+ mentors will build trust and create a safe space for young people to explore potentially traumatic experiences, develop their self-esteem and raise their aspirations.

UpskillU – EXODUS

• Total YEF funding awarded (including evaluation costs): £2.8 millionEvaluator: CoramSpark2Life – Meaningful Mentoring
• Total YEF funding awarded (including evaluation costs): £3.1 million
• Evaluator: ICF Consulting Services Ltd

EXODUS is a 12-month mentoring intervention. The programme begins with 12 weeks of intensive one-to-one mentoring delivered by paid mentors from diverse cultural backgrounds, all trained in restorative practice. It’s followed by a transitional phase focused on long-term goals and personal development. Upon completing the programme, young people will be introduced to local community volunteers who will provide an ongoing, extended support network.

Spark2Life – Meaningful Mentoring

• Total YEF funding awarded (including evaluation costs): £3.1 million
• Evaluator: ICF Consulting Services Ltd

Spark2Life caseworkers will provide young people with up to 12 months of trauma-informed mentoring and casework support.  Through weekly face-to-face sessions, the Meaningful Mentoring programme aims to strengthen young people’s support network, support young people with building a prosocial lifestyle hence, a lifestyle that sustains desistence and increases their engagement with education, training and employment opportunities.