We are delighted to be working in partnership with Waltham Forest Council as part of their violence reduction partnership. The first annual report was published on 1st November 2019 and highlights:
A collaborative, partnership approach that recognises the collective responsibility of the whole community to support the borough’s young people to showcase their talents: the partnership includes the council, the police, schools, health workers, residents and community organisations including We Can Work It Out Ltd/Ask Me.
More joint operations with Police than any London borough; this has led to a 38% reduction in crime in one area of the borough.
Implementing a gang-exit programme, supporting leavers in the community as they exit prison.
Community mentors and Ask Me Ambassadors who are now live and supporting young people and their families in the borough.
A 27% reduction in knife crime offences over 12 months.
Our Ask Me service currently offers:
An online resource, built with the help of local young people, which looks to answer the typical questions people may have about gangs and serious youth violence. (See – https://ask-us.org.uk/ask-me-faqs/);
The service also allows young people and their families to ask further questions that we will answer with help from our expert network. Ask Us a question via – https://ask-us.org.uk/ask-us/ ;
Community Ambassadors who are deployed across the borough to engage with young people and signpost them to resources in the gang prevention partnership as well as other community organisations who are offering support for people in need or anything from peer to peer support, counselling and financial assistance;
A Community Directory putting families in touch with the wide range of excellent support services and organisations across the borough and London. We found that many of the existing online advice pages were out of date or did not contain the full picture of the extensive support offered, in one place.
The Ask Me service continues to co-ordinate a full joined-up picture of support available to support our Ambassadors to give the best advice when signposting young people and to help the wider community. The community directory can be found here – https://ask-us.org.uk/directory-category/
We are continuing to work with Waltham Forest Borough Council and other community partners to expand the offer of the Ask Me service and to build upon the early successes of the public health Violence Reduction approach.