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Community Programmes Awards - Winners 2006

Schemes of Special Merit

Rainer Rapid Action Project, Essex
An early intervention scheme targeting 5-13 year olds at risk of offending who are not supported by social or statutory agencies. A partnership between Essex Police and Rainer, dealing with referrals of young people  as soon as they come into contact with the criminal justice system, working with and providing intensive support to the young person and their families.

Sacro Alcohol Education Probation Service
The Service provides a resource to people whose offending behaviour is alcohol related who are on probation or are appearing in court, their Social Workers and the Courts. The rationale for the project is that much offending is alcohol linked and research evidence both nationally and locally supports this. What is unique about this project is that it tackles alcohol issues from the perspective of offending behaviour and specifically uses group work methods to explore and tackle alcohol linked offending behaviour. It therefore offers a basis upon which particularly effective work can be undertaken to help individuals to develop and adopt more positive and law-abiding lifestyles.

Circles of Support and Accountability, Hampshire and Thames Valley, Oxfordshire
Circles of Support and Accountability have been established in the Thames Valley for the past four years. Their purpose is to enable high risk, high need sex offenders to be managed in the community through a group of volunteers supporting them and holding them to account for their behaviour, to reduce the risk of re-offending and to protect future victims.  They recruit, train and support volunteers in carrying out this demanding and sensitive work which involves meeting the sex offender at least weekly as a group and initially daily individual contact to learn about progress and support them as he/she establishes a pattern of community living.

Outstanding schemes

Y-Pac (Young People Affected by Crime/Confidence), Newham Youth Offending Team
Y-Pac is a dynamic and innovative project co-ordinated by Newham Youth Offending Team developed in ordet to:
* Support YP who are victims of crime/bullying in order to address the victim/offender cycle.
* Prevent YP at risk of becoming involved in ASB/crime or offending.
* Prevent YP who are Offenders from re-offending.

Y-Pac effectively works in partnership with the Education, Voluntary and Statutory sectors.

White Gold Project, (WGP) Cornwall Youth Offending Team, Truro, Cornwall
A partnership between community/police/youth offending team identifies vulnerable/prolific/at risk youth offenders and WGP approaches individuals on a voluntary basis to try and address their needs.  All agencies work to utilise a positive change for the young people and address their offending behaviour. 

The Footprints Project, Dorchester 
The aims of eth project are to provide an effective community resettlement service that compliments existing services and is established on faith-based restorative justice principles of reconciliation and reintegration.  The project provides a professional focus and resource to contribute to the successful resettlement of Dorset, Bournemouth and Poole residents being released from prison.  The project provides intensive befriending and mentoring of ex-offenders by linking them up with volunteers recruited from the community. 

Osmaston-on-Track, Youth Offending Service, Derby
A junior youth inclusion project that aims to reduce crime of 7-13 year olds in the Osmaston/Allerton area of Derby by targeting the 35 most ‘at risk’ young people and providing them with a positive role model.  The receive referrals form local agencies.  Young people work with their mentors to build more positive relationships and work to reduce crime, bullying and exclusion. 

Transitional Support Scheme, (TSS) South Wales and Gwent Area, G4S Justice Services
The transitional support scheme was formed and funded due to the lack of resettlement support for short-term prisoners.  TSS is a dedicated to supporting short sentence prisoners serving a sentence of less than 12 months and who are not subject to statutory supervision on release. The scheme focuses on offenders with a history of substance misuse as they represent a typically high proportion of offenders within this group. 

 


Detailed information on the award winners can be found in the Community Programmes Handbook which identifies positive, creative and effective community programmes from across the UK. This is an essential read for practitioners and students as well as those commissioning and designing services.