St Giles Trust will be tackling anti-social behaviour and crime amongst young people in Ipswich through a new mentoring project.
Funding from the Safer Suffolk Fund will enable St Giles Trust to train local volunteers as mentors to young people at risk of or involved in the criminal justice system and frequenting the Jubilee Park and Westgate Ward area of the town.
The role of the mentors, who will be trained to the Level 3 Advice and Guidance qualification under our Peer Advisor Programme, is to encourage young people to identify positive goals and help them access support from other organisations. It means vulnerable young people will be steered away from potential exploitation and a cycle of offending towards a more positive future.
The mentors will initially work with a group of 12 young people who have been identified as being most in need of support but difficult to engage. Some of them are already on Youth Referral Orders or some other form of criminal justice restriction. Part of the role of the mentors will include encouraging them to comply with their orders, re-engage with education and therefore reduce their likelihood of re-offending.