Bury awarded funding as part of Violence Reduction Unit’s investment in communities

FOUR organisations in Bury have been awarded funding from Greater Manchester’s Violence Reduction Unit (VRU) to develop interventions in East Bury.

The interventions will include:

1. Mentoring programmes providing positive role models for young people and families at risk or vulnerable to serious youth violence and criminal exploitation.
2. Youth work activities that will reach and cater for different communities.
3. Schools based interventions to support those at risk of exclusion.
4. Community sports-based interventions.

Bury is the fifth borough in the city-region to receive funding from the VRU as part of its investment in community-led programmes, outlined in Greater Manchester’s Serious Violence Action Plan.

The community-led approach to violence reduction, means the VRU works closely with communities to understand the strengths, challenges, and needs of the community and determine how local investments will be made. This approach delivers against Bury’s local Let’s Do It! strategy and the principles of communities and public services working together to build on local strengths and connections to improve lives for local people. 

Four voluntary, community, and social enterprise (VCSE) organisations will receive grants – 1Message, Bury Defence Academy, Friends of Hazlewood and Early Break – and work together to form on alliance. The alliance will develop interventions that will provide positive role models for young people and raise aspirations through positive engagement.

Bev Hughes, Greater Manchester’s Deputy Mayor for policing, crime, criminal justice, and fire, said: “Working together with communities to design jointly the solutions to problems in their area, including how money is spent and when and where interventions are delivered, is the flagship of Greater Manchester’s approach to tackling serious violence.

“By taking a community-led approach we can prevent serious violence while putting families and communities at the very heart of everything we do, ensuring Greater Manchester becomes safer and stronger for everyone and improving outcomes for young people.”

Councillor Richard Gold, Cabinet Member for Finance and Communities at Bury Council said: “Community led approaches are at the heart of our Let’s Do It! strategy, enabling and empowering local people and groups to come together to collectively build on the strengths of an area and to increase community resilience.

“It is through these principles that these projects support the delivery of the Bury Community Safety Partnership Plan, which itself was developed through consultation with our communities and this work is a major part of delivering our priority on tackling crime and anti-social behaviour in the Borough.”

Ifti Ahmed, Chairman of Bury Defence Academy said: “Forming a partnership with other local organisations who really understand the community will allow us to create even more positive outcomes for young people.

“A grassroots, bottom-up, collaborative approach is precisely what is needed to reduce the number of young people being drawn into violence.

“We look forward to working with our partners whilst utilising our organisational expertise in combat sports, youth work, and the lived experience of our team of volunteers, to help transform the lives of young people in East Bury and beyond.”

Four partnerships/alliances made up of VCSE organisations in Bolton, Manchester, Salford, and Oldham have already been awarded funds as part of the community-led programme scheme. The alliances have had a positive impact in terms of multi-agency partnership work, referrals and access to support, and improved confidence in reporting and targeted work around serious violence with young people. Community-led programmes will be live in all boroughs of Greater Manchester by the end of the year.

Greater Manchester’s VRU has worked with 10GM – a joint venture of VCSE sector infrastructure organisations in Greater Manchester – to drive forward this programme of work.

Bury Voluntary, Community and Faith Alliance (VCFA), will also support the partnership.

For further information about the VRU visit: Homepage – Greater Manchester Violence Reduction Unit (gmvru.co.uk) or follow @gm_vru on Twitter and Instagram.

Article Published: 21/09/2022 09:27 AM