Our Rise Up programme, funded by London’s VRU and delivered by London Youth in partnership with Leap Confronting Conflict, Power the Fight and Clore Social Leadership, builds on youth workers’ skills, confidence and experience in order to better support vulnerable young people in the capital.

Through specialist training, youth workers can boost their skills in addressing conflict and violence, and further develop leadership skills to be even more effective in supporting young people.

On 25 March, we announced £1.1m investment from the VRU was helping to support 90 youth workers develop mentoring skills and better support young people affected by trauma and violence. The programme has already trained and helped develop 84 youth workers, with 90 per cent saying that training helped better equip them in dealing with conflict which meant they were able to build stronger relationships with young people, feel more effective in their roles and more confident of stepping up to senior positions.

Rise Up is a leadership development programme for London-based youth workers. It is a partnership between London Youth, Leap Confronting Conflict and Clore Social Leadership, and funded by London’s Violence Reduction Unit (VRU). The programme recognises the fact that whilst many frontline youth workers bring significant lived experience, passion and commitment to their roles, the work they do is not always sufficiently recognised or valued. This makes it harder for practitioners – particularly those who are unqualified or who have lived experience to engage at a more strategic level or to take up more senior positions within their organisation or elsewhere.

Rise Up aims to build upon youth workers’ skills, confidence and experience in order to better support vulnerable young people in London. This is achieved through strengthened youth work practice, more effective organisations and a more connected sector.

Rise Up supports youth workers to:

• Deepen their youth work practice, especially in relation to addressing conflict and violence;
• Develop a wider set of skills to use within their organisations;
• Strengthen their understanding of the broader political and social context for youth work.

The first phase of Rise Up took place from September 2020 to August 2021. It offered participants:

• 25 modules covering a wide range of practice- based issues, including working with challenging behaviours; cultural sensitivity; understanding and addressing conflict; and system change;
• 4 coaching sessions;
• Access to a mentor;
• The opportunity to apply for an innovation grant.
• Participants attended training sessions twice a week. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic all training, coaching, and mentoring was carried out online.
• Four cohorts took part, with a total of 84 participants completing the course1. 221 people applied to the programme, suggesting that Rise Up has identified an unmet need. Participants were recruited from across London, with participants’ organisations located in 28 of the 32 London Boroughs.
• The majority (37) of participants were aged 26-35, with 21 aged 36-45, 17 aged 18-25 and 5 aged over 45. The majority were Black (42), followed by White (21), Asian (8), Multiple/mixed (7); Prefer not to say (3) and any other ethnic group (1).

Matthew Roach, 31, a youth worker for Achieving for Children in Richmond, said:

“The course has helped me to support young people affected by violence or risk of harm by connecting me with other professionals with the same passion and drive. It has also given me confidence to look for the signs and other ways to work with young people.

“I’ve also developed better relationships with schools and local police to provide even better support for our young people.”

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