Changing Lives in Colchester (March 2023)
Earlier this month we popped down to Colchester to visit Changing Lives. Changing Lives is a non-profit, community interest company that uses sport, social experiences, mentoring and work experience to install confidence in young people and give them opportunities and options to work towards a more positive future. Originally based at Harlow, Changing Lives expanded […]
Bringing a splash of colour to Colchester
Last Sunday we visited The Outhouse in Colchester to film some of the young people who attend the project. The OutHouse is a charity that provides opportunities for LGBTQ+ people in Essex. They run a large programme of services which includes counselling, social events and support groups. The VVU has helped fund a youth counsellor […]
Extra support for our Essex families (October 2022)
The Violence and Vulnerability Unit has, for the last academic year, funded two Team Around the Family Support Officers (TAFSOs) after the Vulnerable School’s Index highlighted two geographical locations where a specific place based TAFSO would have the greatest impact. The role of a TAFSO is to provide support to any professional in Essex who […]
Our new project: ReRoute (June 2022)
We are working on a new project called ReRoute. This project works with young people who have been arrested on possession of carrying a knife but who are waiting to be charged to court. There can be a considerable amount of time between arrest and a court date; by working in this time period to […]
The success of detached youth work (June 2022)
We are consistently told by young people across Essex they want safe activities to participate in and safe places to meet, alongside adults they can talk to and trust. For the past 18 months we’ve worked with Essex Council of Voluntary Youth Services (ECVYS) and Active Essex to fund detached youth workers in areas of […]
Detached youth work success
In 2020 over 600 young people took part in the Violence and Vulnerability Unit’s listening project, which was to help determine future priorities and work areas for the VVU. Their feedback gave us a few main points for consideration and action: The majority of young people told us that youth violence is an issue in […]
