Annual Reports

RESULTS:

ROADSHOWS:

AN EXTERNAL EVALUATOR SURVEYED 1000 STUDENTS FROM 10 CROYDON SCHOOLS TO EVALUATE THE EFFECTIVENESS OF OUR WORK. AS THESE RESULTS SHOW, WE CARRY A POSITIVE INFLUENTIAL VOICE AMONGST SCHOOL CHILDREN.

PRIMARY ROADSHOWS:

92% KNEW MORE ABOUT GANGS AFTER THE SESSION

92% KNEW MORE ABOUT THE LAW AFTER THE SESSION

96% FOUND THE REAL LIFE STORIES OF OUR MENTORS INTERESTING

85% KNEW MORE ABOUT THE DANGERS OF CARRYING A KNIFE

92% WOULDN’T WANT TO BE FRIENDS WITH ANYONE WHO CARRIES A KNIFE

90% ARE AWARE OF WHAT A REAL FRIEND IS AFTER THE SESSION

96% ENJOYED THE SESSION

SECONDARY ROADSHOWS:

89% FELT THE SESSION MET THEIR EXPECTATIONS

78% FELT THEIR UNDERSTANDING OF GANGS AND RELATED VIOLENCE HAS BEEN CHANGED BY THE SESSION

87% FELT MORE INFORMED ABOUT THE DANGERS OF CARRYING A KNIFE

78% SAID THEY WERE LESS LIKELY TO CARRY A KNIFR AFTER OUR VISIT

70% SAID THEY WERE MORE CONFIDENT ABOUT THEIR PERSONAL SAFETY AFTER THE SESSION

80% FELT IT WAS A POSITIVE ACTIVITY

95% ENJOYED THE SESSION

LNK ASPIRE:

Last year, we worked with 31 young people as mentors and achievement coaches. A mentor is the main contact with the young person, their family, and any other organisations that they work with. The mentors also offer mental and emotional support. In addition, the achievement coach works with finding the young person opportunities that suit them, by building their confidence and developing soft skills to help them find apprenticeships, a job, or their way back into education.

CASE STUDY: B (MOTHER’S PERSPECTIVE)

“I had heard briefly about lives not knives and some of the events that they had run in the community, before we were introduced to them through my son’s pupil referral unit, so I was expecting some sort of improvement overall in his behaviour. He got into a lot of fights and had a lot of substance issues, which I knew would come back to hurt him in the future, so really wanted him to change.

Overall, I was very grateful for the support I received, and cherished every single moment of it. LNK would always go the extra mile, by helping us with things such as getting food stamps and refurbishing bedrooms. Every week without fail the worker would come in and have an hour-long meeting with us, sometimes supporting us in meeting with his college regarding his discipline, which would sometimes extend way over the 1 hour they were supposed to be there, but did not care about spending extra time to help. The support that they provided made me feel as though i was not alone in helping my son, especially as his dad was not around.”

“we have had various other social workers come in and out of our household, however none have been as effective as LNK. This is because the social workers in these government-run schemes tend to change every few weeks, which makes it hard for my son to build a personal relationship with them, and for them to gain his trust. This makes it hard for him to open up to them and sort out the problems he has. Also, these workers are not as reliable as LNK, as sometimes they would turn up to meetings over an hour late, which heavily inconveniences us.

I am quite gutted that the LNK Aspire programme only lasted for a year, as it helped my family out a lot more than social services and I have already recommended the programme to a few friends who have children in similar positions.”