Services and projects across Warwickshire which help prevent crime and anti-social behaviour or divert people away from a life of offending have been given a £300,000 funding boost.
Warwickshire Police and Crime Commissioner Philip Seccombe has announced the list of grants he is making available to 32 organisations from his Commissioner’s Grants Scheme for the 2024/25 financial year. They cover a wide range of projects, from youth clubs to road safety, and support services designed to help people in the criminal justice system break the cycle of offending.
When taken with the separate funding for support services directly commissioned by the PCC and funding provided to other partners including the county’s Community Safety Partnerships, it means more than £3.6 million is being provided to fund projects that support the Commissioner’s overarching ambition to reduce crime, support victims and make communities safer.
Mr Seccombe announced the full list of grant recipients during a visit to Leamington-based Young People First, who are among those currently being supported through the grants scheme to be successful in a bid for renewed funding. During his visit, he was able to meet staff and young people at the Westbury Community Centre in Leamington to see how the grant was being used and to hear about how the new funding will be used to develop an outreach service which will seek to engage young people at the locations across the community where they gather.
Jo Squires, CEO of Young People First said:
”Knowing that our youth club and outreach project are supported by Warwickshire Police and Crime Commissioner Philip Seccombe through his Commissioner’s Grants Scheme is so important to us at Young People First as it enables us to do more to reach some of the most vulnerable young people.
We work hard to put young people first in everything we do and see the incredible value of providing safe spaces for young people to spend time with trusted adults and have the opportunity to take part in positive activities. Not all young people are willing to enter a youth club environment and often these are the young people most at risk. With the help of this funding, we are able to take our youth work to the hardest to reach young people in the spaces where they are spending their time and create safety for them there.
Ultimately this will help divert young people away from crime and anti-social behaviour and make a significant positive impact on the community we serve in Leamington.”
Warwickshire Police and Crime Commissioner Philip Seccombe said:
“I’m really pleased to see how the funding from my grants scheme has been helping Young People First to expand its programme of support in Leamington. It’s vital that we have a wide programme of projects which can help divert people away from crime and anti-social behaviour. That’s been a key feature of my grants scheme and it is great to see the funding in action.
“Across the next 12 months, my Grants Scheme will be funding a wide range of projects which are designed to make a similar difference, either by preventing crime or by helping people to turn their lives around and break the cycle of offending that can be so disruptive to both themselves and the community as a whole.
“We have projects new and old that are being supported in the year ahead and, while we were heavily oversubscribed for funding, I am pleased to have still been able to give awards to a good balance of schemes across the county on the theme of prevention and diversion.
“I’m looking forward to seeing how these all develop during the year and ultimately help to reduce crime and make communities safer.”
Among the projects being supported are music, arts and other diversionary projects for young people in Nuneaton, Rugby, Dordon, Stratford-upon-Avon, Shipston, Keresely and Bedworth, while charities Safeline and RoSA will both benefit from grants designed to help educate and support young people affected by or at risk of sexual abuse or harmful behaviour.
Neighbourhood Watch groups countywide will receive funding to help their work providing crime prevention advice across the county, while Warwickshire Retail Crime Initiative will gain funding to help it signpost prolific retail crime offenders to support services to encourage them to break their cycle of offending.
Road safety schemes are also being supported, including the Coventry Advanced Riders, who are receiving funding to help provide safer motorcycle riding courses.
Elsewhere, Warwickshire Search and Rescue are being funded to recruit, train and equip more Swiftwater Rescue Technicians, who assist police and other emergency services with searches in and on water, including flowing rivers and floodwater.
A full list of all grants recipients can be found at: www.warwickshire-pcc.gov.uk/key-information/commissioners-grants
