We were delighted to be visited by Mayor of London Sadiq Khan recently for a showcase of our 'Dream, Believe, Succeed' project. There is a concern that youth violence could spike as we begin to ease out of lockdown and young people begin to spend more time in the community again. City Hall’s Violence Reduction Unit has invested over £3 million in targeting this issue through funding local projects such as ours.
Dream, Believe, Succeed is an alliance of local partners delivering a combine program of creative arts, mentoring and family intervention. We believe that early implementation of these extra-curricular activities lowers the chance of children and young people falling into the wrong path which would make it harder to reverse when these young people get older.
This Edmonton-based scheme targets 11–16-year-olds who are vulnerable and at risk of involvement in criminal activity. A couple of children expressed that the mentoring has helped them express their emotions and provided them with confidence to choose who they really want to be in life without being afraid.
A key component of the project is our mentoring and wellbeing support, provided by local people – some of which first attended the scheme themselves. One mentor said that this scheme is crucial for families who do not have a lot of spare income for their children to cover their summer activities; emphasising that the scheme is a safe place for these children and keeps them off the wrong path. We aim to create a safe place where children can feel they are part of our Edmonton family.
Sadiq Khan told us that the reason why it so important to invest in schemes like Dream, Believe, Succeed is because they target children who for which ever reason cannot access this support, expanding the reach of much needed facilities for vulnerable children.
