Sunday 25th March 2018
The Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has given tens of thousands of pounds to Croydon organisations to tackle knife crime in the borough.
Croydon BME Forum, Lions society, Another Night of Sisterhood (ANOS) and Music Relief have all been chosen to benefit from the mayor’s £1.4 million anti-knife crime fund.
Croydon BME Forum has been given £49,736 to deliver training and support to organisations. The money will be spent on helping young people aged from eight to 25 who are at risk of being recruited into gangs and offending as well as supporting their parents.
Andrew Brown, interim CEO of Croydon BME Forum, said: “The funding will help us deliver capacity building training and support to five grassroots organisations who provide activities for people affected by knife crime in Croydon, reaching at least 60 people over a 12-month period.”
Croydon BME Forum – £49,736 to deliver training and support to five grassroots organisations who provide activities for people affected by knife crime in Croydon, reaching at least 60 people.
He added: “The second part of the programme will support five groups to continue with the good work they are doing in tackling the underlying issues surrounding knife crime.
“The groups will deliver a programme of activities to parents and young people aged eight to 25 [who are] at risk of offending, being recruited into gangs, at risk of becoming, or not in education, employment or training (NEET).
“And for parents who feel excluded from their children’s lives.”
Within the workshops offered Mr Brown says there will be music therapy, community empowerment, employment and awareness of social media.
A mentoring system, where groups go into five schools in the borough, will also be able to happen, as well as 1,000 hours of outreach support in the north of Croydon.
He added: “The problem is that the small groups are doing wonderful work, but they are not getting the money in, and they have to pay bills.”
MP for Croydon Central, Sarah Jones, who was involved in lobbying the Mayor’s office to secure the funding, hopes it will make a difference.She said: “There’s obviously still a lot of priority to be given to knife crime by the government, but I think it’s a really good model.”
The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan said: “As Mayor, I’m doing everything possible in London not only to be tough on knife crime, but tough on the causes of knife crime too.
“City Hall has stepped up where the government is letting our young people down.
“We are providing unprecedented additional funds to the Met Police, driving forward a full and comprehensive knife crime strategy and our new young Londoners fund will help many young people to thrive, prosper and make the right choices to avoid being sucked into a life of crime.
“Prevention is the most effective tool we have.
“These community and grass-roots projects will be able to help root out violence within our communities and give more young Londoners the skills, support and aspirations they need to turn away from crime and fulfil their potential.”
