Save London Lives campaign helps 64,000 young people across London

Save London Lives initiative groups 57 organisations together to help tackle youth knife crime

(Picture: Handout)

Save London Lives, an initiative supporting charities across London has helped 64,000 young people involved in youth violence, according to an independent report commissioned to evaluate the initiative.

The £2.million Evening Standard campaign provided funding for 57 organisations across the capital, working to steer young people away from violence and crime.

The project, which started in 2018, was supported by the ES Dispossessed Fund, which contributed £50,000 to the cause and was run by the London Community Foundation, who manage the Dispossessed Fund.

The programme included capacity building support for the charities as well as opportunities to learn best practice from each other and from experts.

Save London Lives gives an oppurtunity for community groups committed to tackling youth knife crime to communicate with each other (Handout)

Since its creation, Save London Lives has spread across London, funding local grassroots organisations to support young people and reducing violence through local solutions.

They were funded for core work and project work – and the programme included anti-knife crime workshops at schools, family support and trauma training for youth centre staff.

The initiative has been backed by donors including Citi Foundation, L&Q Foundation and the Home Office.

Young people directly affected by knife crime speak out about their experiences (Handout)

The event featured speakers working on the frontline of tackling knife crime, including young people directly affected by knife crime, who shared stories of the help they received from the initiative.

Praween , one of the young speakers at the event, shared his story of the support he received from Oxygen, one of the grantees of the funding.

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan praised the work of the project in tackling youth knife crime in the capital.

A spokesperson for the Mayor of London said: The Mayor applauds the work of the Save London Lives campaign over recent years and would like to thank all the individuals and organisations who donated to the fund. It has contributed to our wider efforts to bring community organisations together in our city to prevent violence.”