Communities from Drumchapel to Dingwall are being helped to combat the problem of gangs thanks to a £400k cash boost.

Over 500 young people who are involved in gang activity nationwide are being targeted by projects to address issues such as anger management and territorialism to help them leave gangs and violence behind.

Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill announced a £200,000 fund for police forces and local partners to bid for to tackle gang and youth disorder on 14 February this year. £163,000 of this fund was allocated to bids, the rest being churned back into other violence reduction programmes.

Contributions in cash and kind from local police and partners amounted to over £234k – giving a grand total of nearly 400k invested in the initiative.

The aim of the bids was to build proactively on the enforcement and diversionary elements already undertaken by Scotland’s police forces as part of Safer Scotland Phase III and to develop their relationships with local partners. One of the successful bids was for a “Football Masterclass” set up in the Springburn area of Glasgow as part of Operation Reclaim. The initiative received over £15,000 to do work intensively over a six month period with 120 known gang members.

Visiting the project, Mr MacAskill said: “Many of these schemes imaginatively combine the tried and tested with new ideas and approaches. I think they can really get to the root of the issues involved in gang disorder and challenge them - by building team working skills to teaching ways to resolve conflict.

“It’s great to see that so many of Scotland’s police forces and their local partners have risen to the challenge and come up with great projects to help tackle youth and gang disorder.”

To aid the delivery of the workshops and programmes outlined in the bids, 72 individuals (mainly police and local authority staff) from across Scotland were given specialist training. This training was conducted in early February by the LEAP Confronting Conflict organisation - an English based charity which specialises in gang culture. The training was jointly funded by the Scottish Government and Strathclyde Police and has benefitted the participants through increased knowledge on the organisation and operation of intervention workshops and programmes.
In order to attain maximum benefit from the initiative, each of the bids incorporated behavioural change workshops and programmes, either using LEAP training or similar. These in turn will deal with issues such as conflict management, territorialism, aggression and the forming of positive relationships.

In addition to the “Football Masterclass”, other successful bids included:

Bid 1: ‘Hit the Beat On Tour’

A roll out of the successful ‘Hit the Beat’ project into areas of Renfrewshire where it has not previously reached and which are in need of diversionary activities to steer young people away from gang participation. The project aims to provide disadvantaged young people with the type of activities not usually available to them such as, music tuition, D.J. Mixing, Street dance, Drama, Street Art and Video Animation. These activities are designed as a means for the young people in these areas to express themselves and act as a viable and positive alternative to violence, anti-social behaviour and gang participation.

It is hoped that by getting young people down to events in their local areas police might have the opportunity to engage with gang members, and those on the periphery, and build a rapport with them. This is important in order to help educate young people about the variety of choices available in their local area which can act as a positive alternative to gang membership.

Bid 3: Pathfinder Plus Project

The Pathfinder Plus Project is an extension of a previously successful pilot which will be rolled out into known gang violence ‘hotspots’ in West Glasgow which have not previously benefited from it. The programme is designed to address territorialism and gang culture amongst young people and the funding awarded will allow the provision of two extra courses in areas with significant gang related problems.

The first of these is Whiteinch and the second in Drumchapel. Suitable youngsters in these areas will firstly be identified and contact will then be made with them and their families. Those selected will then be brought together for initial development evenings designed to break down territorial issues, build a team ethos between all participants and challenge unacceptable behaviour. Next the young people involved will be taken on an outward bound activity weekend in order to further challenge their behaviour and teach them important skills such as team work and the ability to achieve positive outcomes. These weekends will focus on the individual in an environment away from their collective comfort zones and will highlight the need for reflection on previous behaviour, as a catalyst for future change.

At the conclusion of the weekend the youngsters will be provided with one to one feedback and will be signposted onto other services and organisations in order to assist them to make positive transitions.

Bid 4: A Culture of Violence – A performance

The aim of this initiative is for the local police to engage with the young people of Buckhaven and show them, by means of a visual performance, the effects that violence has on individuals and the wider community. The performance will take the form of a play, enacted and produced in part by members of the two local high schools, Kirkland and Buckhaven HS, thus bringing together two sets of young people who wouldn’t normally work together and potentially breaking down the

barriers between them. The production of the play will involve pupils in S5 and S6 from both schools and it is hoped that as many of those as possible who have been identified in the local police forces’ problem profile will also be involved. Every pupil at the two High Schools will be given a chance to see the play and it will also be recorded onto DVD and made available to other schools in Fife in order that the wider community might benefit from its use.

Once the project has reached its conclusion it is hoped that pupils from the two schools will continue to build on the positive relationships formed and begin to understand that violence and territorialism are both futile and dangerous. The work done through the production of the play will also be followed up by the local School Campus Officer who will hold direct workshops with those who are identified gang members in an effort to divert them from gang culture and thus reduce violence.

NOTES FOR NEWS EDITORS

1. 30 bids were received by the closing date of 7 March although two were withdrawn shortly afterwords by the applicants. The remaining 29 bids were evaluated against set criteria by the Scottish Government and the Violence Reduction Unit and funding has been awarded to 19 applicants (nine were rejected). Successful projects will receive Government funding worth £163,000, backed up by services and investment worth more than £230,000 from those involved.
2. Some of the projects will extend the remit of existing initiatives whereas others are new or reignite previously delivered initiatives. Initiatives range from football based programmes, music and drama productions, residential activities courses, or classroom based activity. They also vary in scale – some are relatively short term with a small selected group – others will be delivered over a longer period with a higher number of individuals.
3. The areas which will benefit from the funding are as follows:

   Funding Areas

   Police Force	Area	Contribution
   Strathclyde	Paisley & Renfrewshire	£6400
   Strathclyde	Drumchapel	£5250
   Strathclyde	Barrhead & Pollock	£4700
   Strathclyde	Govan	£5470
   Strathclyde	Hamilton	£29150
   Strathclyde	Sighthill & Springburn	£15510
   Strathclyde	Easterhouse	£16269
   Strathclyde	Woodlands	£2080
   Fife	Buckhaven	£11675
   Fife	Glenrothes	£5100
   L&B	Leith	£10736
   L&B	West Lothian	£4336
   L&B	Pentlands	£2500
   L&B	Central Edinburgh	£4600
   L&B	Roseburn	£5110
   Central	Bannockburn	£15000
   Central	Clackmannanshire	£5370
   Grampian	Garthdee, Aberdeen	£596
   Northern	Pan Highland	£13727

   4. The 19 Bids awarded funding are outlined below:

   Police force submitting bid	Partners	Area where initiative to be delivered	Funding amount approved (£)	Overview of bid proposal
   Strathclyde	Renfrewshire Council; Renfrewshire Arts	Paisley and Renfrew	£6,400	Based around the existing 'Hit the Beat' music tour, partners intend to identify specific individuals to get involved in the production of the tour. Whilst there, individuals will participate in LEAP style workshops around gang violence
   Strathclyde	Culture & Sport Glasgow Youth Services; Crime Prevention Panel	Drumchapel, Knightswood, Scot-stoun, Anderston	£5,250	Building on the success of the Pathfinder project - an outward bounds programme for gang members - Pathfinder Plus aims to develop the exist programme through the introduction of specific gang/violence workshops - 3 separate Pathfinder programmes will be delivered
   Fife	Buckhaven Youth Theatre; Kirkland and Buckhaven High Schools	Buckhaven	£11,675	Individuals will be targeted to produce and perform a drama production entitled A Culture of Violence. Once produced, the production will be performed at the two local high schools. During this time, workshops around violence and conflict will be delivered
   Strathclyde	East Renfrewshire Council; Strathclyde Fire & Rescue	Barrhead / Pollok	£4,700	Selected individuals will be identified to participate in a bespoke Firereach Programme and a series of outdoor personal development activities. During these programmes, behaviour workshops will be delivered around gang violence
   Strathclyde	Culture & Sport Glasgow; Aberlour Child Care Trust	Pollok / Govan	£5,470	Intensive Streetwork services will be provided over a 12 week period. Specially trained staff in conflict resolution and LEAP principles will seek to develop relations with identified individuals and deliver specially designed workshops
   Strathclyde	Youth Community Service Agency; Culture & Sport Glasgow; Glasgow Comm Safety Team	Woodlands, Glasgow	£2,080	The funding will be used to continue a relatively new initiative which is aiming to engaging with Asian youths, many of whom are on the fringes of group conflict. The initiative is delivered at the Fred Paton Centre and the additional funds will be used to extend the programme and incorporate LEAP workshops
   Strathclyde	South Lanarkshire Council; NHS Lanarkshire; Active 8; Universal Connections, Motherwell FC	Hamilton	£29,150	This initiative will look to build on the relations formed by the local Campus Police officers in the 3 High schools and deliver a diverse range of interventions, based around football, coaching, drama and outdoor activities. Individuals from the 3 schools will be encouraged to work together on specially selected activities.
   Fife	Fife Council; 3x local high schools; NHS Fife; Detached Youth Work	Glenrothes	£5,100	A wide range of diversionary activities (football and music) will be delivered each weekend and specifically targeted individuals will be identified to get involved in the organising. During this time, workshops around conflict and behaviour will be delivered
   L&B	Comm Safety Team; Telford College; Sikh Lodge; Citadel Youth Centre; Leith Housing Assc	Leith	£10,736	Partners have developed a programme of 12 workshops with identified individuals to address their behaviours and attitudes. Workshops will cover issues such as violence, alcohol, gangs and drugs and will encourage participation in training and employment through a 'mentoring' programme with local tradesmen
   L&B	West Lothian Drug & Alcohol Team; Youth Justice Family Support	West Lothian	£4,336	Workshops with identified individuals will be delivered over 2 x 8 week periods to address issues such as violence, gang membership and alcohol misuse, seeking to encourage more positive behaviour
   L&B	Edinburgh Council; Lothian Buses; City Youth Café (6VT)	Central Edinburgh	£4,600	This initiative covers a range of interventions including a one-week programme entitled 'Cooldown Crew' covering issues such as team work and developing confidence. Specific workshops around offending will also be delivered separately and will incorporate a visit to Saughton Prison to meet an existing prisoner
   L&B	Edinburgh Council	Roseburn	£5,110	Intensive workshops delivered during a week's residential course at the Broomlea facility in the Borders
   Central	Stirling Council; Streetworx	Bannockburn	£15,000	Intensive engagement with identified individuals and their families to address issues such as offending, violence and gang culture. Specific mediation workshops will also be delivered to address local territorialism issues
   Strathclyde	Culture & Sport Glasgow; Housing Assc; Sidekix	North-East Glasgow Sighthill/ Springburn	£15,510	Building on the success of Operation Reclaim, the intervention aims to engage with 120 identified individuals over a 6 month period and deliver intensive workshops around violence and gangs.  High profile individuals from the football world will be participating in the initiative as positive role models
   Strathclyde	Culture & Sport Glasgow; Local housing assc; FARE; Easterhouse Arts, Falkirk FC	Easterhouse	£16,269	Intensive 6 week programme will be delivered covering a range of initiatives such as football, outdoor activity and drama sessions. Workshops on violence and gangs will be incorporated into each session
   Central	Clackmannanshire Council; Forthvally Street Sport	Clackmannanshire	£5,370	Intensive workshops will be delivered to address issues such as offending and violence. Restorative Circles will be used to address underlying issues and encourage people to engage in the process
   Northern	NCH Scotland Gael Og Project; Inverness Caledonian FC	Pan Highlands initiative	£13,727	Following the delivery of a pan-highland football league, selected individuals will be identified to attend a residential weekend (4x weekend will be delivered). During this time, a range of issues will be addressed, including offending behaviour
   Grampian	Aberdeen Council; Barnardo’s New Direction	Garthdee, Aberdeen	£596	Workshops will be delivered with identified individuals to address issues such as offending and violence
   Total
   £163,579