Community Action Team Services

Youth and Crime Diversion Projects

Involving young people from start to finish – designing and evaluating projects themselves, involving young people at risk of offending in positive activities, diverting them away from crime.

What Future: A Community Safety Plan for Young People’ (April 2008)

CAT spoke to 157 young people in Waltham Forest about:

• The impact of youth crime, knives and gangs – what is actually happening on housing estates
• The causes of youth crime – why young people get involved in gangs and why hey carry knives
• The solutions – what young people think should be done to tackle the problems of youth crime, knives and gangs

Young People’s solutions are included in an Action Plan ‘Wield Words – Not Weapons’ and one their key priorities – early intervention in primary schools – is being piloted at a primary school in Waltham Forest.

Download the report Community Safety Plan for Young People here.

Download the Action Plan here.

What Future for Young People in South Leytonstone?

In November 2006, we were commissioned by the Better Neighbourhoods Initiative to deliver a project aimed at identifying the unmet needs of young people in the Cathall and Cann Hall Wards in South Leytonstone.

As part of this project, in December we spoke to 105 young people on the Cathall Estate about their experiences and the improvements they want to see:

• Many young people have very negative perceptions of the area – there is not much about it that they like.
• 23% said they don’t like the area because of shootings, stabbings, muggings and conflict with young people from other areas.
• 20% say they don’t like ‘police harassment’
• 38% say the area is safe – but 56% say the area is unsafe, depending on where you are, who you are with etc.
• 56% complain about the lack of youth facilities and 64% want more youth activities in the area.

Following the publication of this Report, we are supporting young people to develop a youth project in the area that will be open, inclusive – and which aims to make the area safer for all residents.

Download the report ‘What Future for Young People in South Leytonstone?’ here

Following the report 'What Future for Young People in South Leytonstone?', CAT published the final report project on its' work during the past few months, entitled 'Developing a Strategy for Young People in South Leytonstone'. A fundamental conclusion from this report is that the problems confronting young people cannot be tackled effectively unless they, their parents/carers - and local communities - are empowered to participate in decision-making processes.

Leyton & Leytonstone Summer Programme 2006

CAT co-ordinated a Summer Programme for 8 – 13 year olds, with 20 activities including art, basketball, swimming/for beginners, cricket, dance, dj/mixing, fashion design, football, gymnastics, IT/computer skills, jewellery making, karate, netball, pond dipping, pool, rounders, skateboarding and table tennis.

There was a total of 2,419 attendances at these activities, which were evaluated by the participants, who gave an average score of 8.7 out of 10 - and their parents, who gave an average score of 9.2 out of 10 (‘excellent’).

The Police confirmed that the area was quieter than usual with less anti-social behaviour than in previous summers and the funding body stated that “the work was outstanding”.

Bermondsey & Rotherhithe Fairplay Football League

At a borough-wide tournament at the end of the summer holidays, the team from Bermondsey & Rotherhithe was the most ethnically diverse and it was also the most committed to the ethic of Fairplay.

Bethnal Green Positive Activities for Young people (PAYP)

A team of Youth Workers delivered a wide range of activities for Bangladeshi young people at risk of offending in Bethnal Green.

The project was designed jointly with young people. The project was evaluated by them and by the local authority as “excellent” .

Young People Tackling Racism in Newham

This report aims to show the views of 200 young people at Newham College of Further Education, supporting them to identify the impacts of racism and ways of addressing the problems they experience.

The students’ main concerns related to:

• Their perceptions of racial harassment perpetrated by the Police
• ‘Gang conflict’ between young people from different ethnic groups and
• Racial discrimination by employers

Young people identified a wide range of problems – but they were brimming with ideas about ways to tackle racism and a comprehensive set of recommendations is being forwarded to the relevant authorities.

Bethnal Green Positive Activities for Young people (PAYP)

A team of Youth Workers delivered a wide range of activities for Bangladeshi young people at risk of offending in Bethnal Green.

The project was designed jointly with young people and evaluated as “excellent” by them.