Oct 06 2025

Changing Lives with ReRoute

We wanted to share with you one of the recent successes of the VVU ReRoute Programme, and how the programme is helping young people steer away from a life of crime and positively turn their lives around – and through this reduce violence and improve safety for communities. One young person we have been working […]

Sep 09 2025

Knife crime classroom resources

The VVU continues to support teachers with resources about knife harm, following results of our 2025 Listening Project that shows knife crime is still the biggest worry for young people in Essex. Our resources, designed for use in secondary schools, for pupils from year 8 onwards, can be accessed at Knife Harm Resources – Essex […]

Sep 09 2025

An evaluation of the Respect Project

The VVU funded Respect Project is an early intervention programme run by Essex Boys and Girls Clubs for 13-14 year olds. It’s designed to help year 9’s who are struggling in school to re-engage with their education, deal with life’s problems, build their mental resilience and self-confidence and improve their mental wellbeing – teaching them […]

Aug 21 2025

Most recent VRU evaluation

The latest evaluation of the national VRU (VVU) programme (up until end of March 2024) is now available at Violence Reduction Units year ending March 2024 evaluation report – GOV.UK This evaluation, commissioned by the Home Office, includes statistical analysis (based on all VRU areas) and qualitative research (based on some of the VRU areas, […]

Jul 09 2025

Showcasing the support we can give to you

The VVU works with lots of brilliant projects and interventions right across the county. Projects that support young people in all sorts of ways – giving them a safe space to meet; providing positive adult role models; giving them access to mentors and counselling; helping them access sport, drama, art and other leisure activities. Projects […]

Jul 09 2025

Happy birthday North Avenue

Here at the VVU we love a celebration, particularly one which marks such a fantastic achievement as a 25th anniversary. On 1 July, North Avenue Youth Centre in Chelmsford celebrated 25years of supporting the local community and we were delighted to attend the celebrations. As proud funders of North Avenue Youth Centre, it was a […]

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