Youth Endowment Fund CEO visits Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland to see violence prevention work in action

The Violence Reduction Network (VRN) was delighted to welcome Jeremy Miles, Chief Executive Officer of the Youth Endowment Fund (YEF), to Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland (LLR) on Thursday 30th July, as part of a visit to learn more about the partnership work taking place to prevent violence and improve outcomes for young people. 

During the visit, Jeremy Miles met with member of the VRN team, partners, practitioners and young people involved in a range of programmes that are helping to create safer communities across the area. 

The visit included: 

• An introductory meeting with Grace Strong, Director of Prevention, providing an overview of the Violence Reduction Network, the journey so far and our collaborative work with the Youth Endowment Fund.   

• A visit to the VRN's Navigator Intervention, Elevate which is based at A&E and Custody sites, providing an opportunity to learn from the health care and navigator team on how the service supports individuals at key moments to reduce the risk of violence and exploitation.

• A tour of one of the diversionary pathways linked to Young Futures Panels, at First Legion Gym. Representatives from City Youth Justice shared how they coordinate the multi-agency panel, utilise youth work and community providers in providing tailored support for children and young people. 

• A session with members of the Community Oversight Group and Peer Action Collective (PAC) team to learn more about how young people are actively involved in influencing violence prevention activity across LLR. The VRN has partnered with the YEF to become a delivery partner in the national PAC project which is being delivered in Leicester in collaboration with Young Leicestershire, Leicestershire Police, St Matthews Big Local and Team Hub. PAC is a youth-led model which aims to empower young people, particularly those with lived experience of crime and violence, to create positive change.  

  
  

The visit reflects the strong and long-standing relationship between the VRN and the Youth Endowment Fund. Over a number of years, the organisations have worked collaboratively on the design and evaluation of interventions, shared expertise to support implementation guidance, contributed to advisory boards and participated in national learning events focused on preventing violence affecting young people. 

We would like to thank Jeremy Miles and the YEF team for taking the time to visit LLR engage with the partners, practitioners and young people driving this important work. We look forward to continuing our strong partnership with the YEF.