| Youth Inclusion Programmes, established in 2000, are tailor-made programmes for 8 to 17-year-olds, who are identified as being at high risk of involvement in offending or anti-social behaviour. The programme operates in 110 of the most deprived/high crime estates in England and Wales. In Manchester, there are YIPs in East Manchester, North Manchester (Harpurhey), East Wythenshawe and Miles Platting, Ancoats and Collyhurst South.
YIPs aim to reduce youth crime and anti-social behaviour in neighbourhoods where they work. Young people are identified through a number of different agencies including the Youth Offending Service, Police, Children’s Services (social workers or education authorities), schools, and other local agencies.
An independent national evaluation of the first three years of YIPs found that:
- arrest rates for the 50 young people considered to be most at risk of crime in each YIP had been reduced by 65%
- of those who had offended before joining the programme, 73% were arrested for fewer offences after engaging with a YIP
- of those who had not offended previously but who were at risk, 74% did not go on to be arrested after engaging with a YIP
YIPs can be funded either by the Youth Justice Board or by other sources of funding. In Manchester, there is one YIP (East Manchester) funded by the YJB whilst the other three are funded through the Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership.
Over the last two years, the three non-YJB funded projects have joined East Manchester, the YOS Parenting and Prevention Team and the Longsight Family Intervention Project under the YOS prevention umbrella, and as such the YOS reports on outcomes for these young people to a variety of organisations. The use of a combined database for all the prevention projects in Manchester facilitates this and encourages the secure exchange of information between projects in different areas that may be working with the same clients.
The programme gives young people somewhere safe to go where they can learn new skills, take part in activities with others and get help with education and careers guidance. Positive role models in the programmes help to change young people's attitudes to education and crime.
Each project has the following aims:
- to engage with a high proportion of the core group, especially those members deemed most at risk
- to address the risks identified by assessment
- to increase access to mainstream and specialist services, especially in relation to education, training and employment, for the young people involved
- to prevent young people in the programme from entering the Criminal Justice System, and to reduce offending of young people already in the system
- to intervene, not just on an individual level, but with communities and families (especially the parents of the core group)
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