The Youth Justice Sport Fund was established to utilise sport as a powerful tool to engage at-risk young people, diverting them from crime and antisocial behaviour. Launched in December 2022, the programme allocated £5 million across 220 trusted community organisations nationwide. Now, the evaluation report has proved the programme a success, providing evidence that shows the programme effectively engaged at risk young people and helped to reduce crime and anti-social behaviour.

The fund managed by StreetGames, with support from the Alliance of Sport in Criminal Justice and the Sport for Development Coalition is the first of its kind delivered by the Ministry of Justice, and forms part of the government's wider £300m investment into youth justice services over the next three years.

With the publication of the Youth Justice Sport Fund evaluation report, there are fresh calls for even greater use of innovative sports-based early intervention approaches for young people in a way that can help prevent the cycle of offending, minimise the long-term impact of criminal behaviour and support young people to find positive pathways. The report highlights that sport, when provided in a safe, supportive environment, gives young people a sense of belonging, and exposes them to a diverse array of positive role models.

The programme successfully engaged over 7,800 young people, with 82% of them coming from 40% most deprived areas, providing them with structured sports activities and additional personal development opportunities.

77 of the 220 participating organisations had an annual turnover of less than £100,000 and 63% of the hours delivered by participating organisations were dedicated to mentoring and other 'sport plus' activities that help delivery staff build a strong rapport with young people and accelerate their personal development.

To read the recommendations that have been made following the report, follow the link below to read Youth Justice's own site:

https://www.streetgames.org/2023/07/19/youth-justice-sport-fund-programme-harnesses-sport-to-empower-at-risk-young-people/