3Pillars Project’s vision is to deliver the world’s leading sports-based mentoring programme for young men in the criminal justice system; those vulnerable to engaging in crime, in custody and recently released from prison. They empower participants through trust-based relationships and long-term engagement to reintegrate into their community, create positive change in their lives and transform their futures.
Our grant will increase the capacity of the team, enabling the employment of an additional mentor with lived experience of offending. They will work with young men in both prison and community settings to deliver their GAMEPLAN intervention, which supports the journey from prison into education, employment, or training. It focuses on the three core pillars of exercise, education, and ethos as a foundation for effective rehabilitation and a move away from behaviours that can lead to reoffending.
Al-Hurraya aims to change lives and transform communities by developing culturally specific interventions to improve overall community cohesion. Al-Hurraya is peer led, empowering individuals who have experienced addiction (drug, alcohol, gaming, gambling, and the internet) and aims to reduce the inequalities they face. They provide early intervention, prevention and education workshops that address issues around gang culture and knife crime, grooming and child sexual exploitation, honour-based violence and forced marriage, radicalism and extremism and domestic violence and abuse.
Our grant will support young offenders (16-24 years) from BAMER communities in Nottingham. Mentors will work with them across a range of issues to help them achieve qualifications and secure sustained employment to ensure that they avoid reoffending.
CatZero is committed to making lasting positive and personal change in the lives of children, young people, families and adults. They address the underlying issues created by lost early development, poor parenting, the impact of adverse childhood experiences and school non-attendance. They support the reduction of drug and alcohol use, wider community participation and promote healthier lifestyles and improved physical/mental wellbeing.
Our grant will enable CatZero to work with 20 young people with criminal convictions through an intensive 16-week programme which aims to move them away from reoffending behaviour and into long term employment. They will support young people using a high challenge/high support model that tackles negativity and promotes active community involvement.
Inside Connection’s mission is to give people a fairer chance in life, to make positive change and reduce crime. They offer a fully funded employability training programme and develop partnerships with employers across the UK to offer a flexible pathways into work whilst providing tailored mentoring for each learner. They offer support to young people who live away from their own homes or families and provide ‘through the gate’ prison support services.
Our grant will fund a Hub Coordinator to engage with employers to create pathways into work for young offenders. The grant will also promote collaborative multi-agency working that will enable a coordinated approach to meeting the needs of the young people and help them to not reoffend.
Paws for Progress engages young offenders using a pioneering dog-training programme, encouraging them towards a positive future and paid employment. Services are provided both within and outside the prison setting and include; inclusion and activity services for the most isolated, an 8 week rescue dog training programme and an 8 week scheme working towards accredited education awards. Within the community, young people can access employability personal development programmes working alongside other partners.
Our grant will be used to part fund salary costs that will increase support to young people aged 16 – 22 at HMP YOI Polmont, improve their well-being, help them develop new skills, and provide opportunities to progress to work experience, education, further training, and employment within the community.
Switchback assist young men to find a way out of the justice system and build a stable, rewarding life. They do this through a structured six-month programme that works with young men for three months prior to their release from prison and for a further three months upon release. Further post release support includes a 12-week work placement at either the Crisis Café or Dusty Knuckles Bakery, alongside continued support from a paid Mentor, leading to an education, paid employment, or training outcome. Switchback works to challenge policy, build relationships with government and key decision makers, and change public perceptions about young offenders.
Our grant will fund a Partnership Manager who will extend Switchback’s training and employment partnerships, providing more opportunities for Switchback Trainees to gain vital skills, experience, and access to long term employment. This will contribute to the Trainee being able to move away from behaviour that could lead to reoffending.
Switch Up provides individual, life-changing support to young people in communities affected by crime and violence. Through sport, mentoring and personal development, Switch Up improves young people’s mental and physical wellbeing to give them the skills, confidence, and motivation to realise their full potential. Asset based tried and tested mentoring techniques along with physical activities and training steer young offenders away from a circle of crime and gang-related criminality. Switch Up delivers an outreach service, one-to-one and peer mentoring, accredited non-formal education and ‘through the gate’ resettlement mentoring.
Our grant will engage 22 vulnerable young people who have served a custodial sentence and are amongst the hardest to reach. Support will involve an employability programme that will last for a minimum of 12 weeks and be centred around 1-2-1 mentoring. Switch Up will also offer employability workshops alongside counselling and boxing classes and match young offenders with employers for work experience and employment opportunities.
The Turnaround Project helps people serving custodial sentences to turn around their futures and engages the wider community to support them on that journey. They provide 12 months’ transitional employment to ex-offenders through two social enterprises – Outwork a gardening and ground maintenance company and Big Loop Bikes a bike repair service. Alongside this, the organisation provides coaching/mentoring to address the social and economic barriers that have been identified as important on a person’s journey away from the criminal justice system.
Our grant will fund a new peer mentoring programme to provide volunteer support for young offenders over a 15-month period which will enable coaching capacity to be increased and strong relationships developed with new employers.