THE Police and Crime Commissioner has awarded £800,000 worth of funding to tackle violence and knife crime.

The funding has been awarded to 14 organizations across the Thames Valley to deliver projects to tackle youth violence, knife crime and exploitation.

In November the PCC was given £822,000 from the Home Office Early Intervention Fund and the work will be delivered in partnership with community safety partnerships, youth offending teams, youth service providers, local authorities and secondary schools, as well as community and voluntary groups.

Matthew Barber, Deputy Police and Crime Commissioner, said: “Given the recent increase in knife crime, we need to look at what more we can do to protect young people from violence and exploitation and how we can work even more closely in partnership with both statutory and community organisations to try to reverse this trend.

“I hope that these projects we’ve funded will help tackle this issue by working with young people at both ends of the spectrum of youth violence; from early intervention programmes to identify and support those at risk of involvement in knife crime, gangs or drug dealing to supporting those young people already involved; helping them turn their lives around through intensive support and skills training.

“I believe that projects such as these make a real difference to the lives of individuals and communities as a whole and I look forward to seeing these activities progress over the coming months.”

The program will include a range of interventions, from raising awareness of youth violence and exploitation across secondary schools to targeted intervention with young people already involved in gangs and knife crime.

In order to successfully deliver the work the PCC has made the funding available to organizations who can provide these interventions, which include Crimestoppers, AlterEgo Creative Solutions and Reach Every Generation.