 Community safety is one of eight priorities of the North Norfolk Community Strategy . The North Norfolk Safer Communities Partnership takes the lead role in setting specific priorities, and these include preventing young people from engaging in crime.
North Norfolk has one of the lowest crime rates in the country, and surveys show that its residents generally feel safe. However, crime audit figures do point to localized hotspots of criminal damage and antisocial behaviour, particularly in the towns.
A recent national review of arts projects in the criminal justice system , including the youth justice system, confirms that arts-based interventions can be effective in several different settings, including crime prevention work with young people. Our Creative Change project will focus particularly on the North Walsham area, and on preventative work with two target groups:
- young people aged 8-13 who have come to the attention of the new Youth Inclusion Support Panel (YISP) being set up in North Walsham by the Youth Offending Team;
- young people aged 14-16 who have been excluded from school and attend the Pupil Referral Units (PRUs) in Aylsham and Dereham.
Thanks to support from the North Norfolk Community Partnership, the following Creative Change project will be delivered in North Norfolk in 2006 and 2007.
| Theme | Reducing crime and anti-social behaviour | | Aims | To show how arts activities can have a positive impact on the behaviour of young people thought to be at risk of offending. | | To contribute to the development of a countywide, multi-agency strategy for commissioning arts activities within the youth justice sector in Norfolk. | | Target audience | Young people aged 8-13 who have been referred to the new Youth Inclusion Support Panel (YISP) in North Walsham. Older young people (Key Stage 4) attending Pupil Referral Units (PRU) in North Norfolk. | | Summary | Two separate sub-projects, each involving drama/dance sessions with the target audience over a number of months, culminating in two separate performances for family and friends at Sheringham Little Theatre. | | When and where | YISP sessions will take place out of school time once a week between September 2006 – February 2007, based in North Walsham. PRU sessions will take the form of a half-day per week during school time over the school year 2006-07, again in North Walsham. |
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