Commissioner’s Action Fund to prevent youth offending and support older people affected by scams

A range of projects to reduce crime across Hertfordshire have been funded by the Police and Crime Commissioner.

David Lloyd has awarded £34,732 from the Action Fund to groups including those preventing youth offending, providing scam awareness training and to tackle violence against women and girls.

Among the latest round of seven successful applicants were organisations from Broxbourne, Welwyn Hatfield, Three Rivers, Watford and St Albans.

The Welwyn Hatfield Women’s Refuge and Support Services (WHWR) Organisation were given £5,000 to provide support to the highest risk cases where the victim is threatened with serious violence. They work with the women and children affected to build trust with the criminal justice system to bring perpetrators to justice.

Two boxing groups received £5,000 in funding to work with young people and women and girls. The South Oxhey Boxing Club will run The Sisters Boxing Project for 100 participants to enable women and girls to be more confident and aware of the dangers around them. Watford based West Herts Amateur Boxing Club & Educational Support will use the money for their Knives Down Gloves Up scheme which uses boxing as a constructive alternative to gang affiliation, knife crime and extremism.

Awards of £5,000 and £4,744 were given to Citizens Advice East Herts and Citizens Advice Broxbourne respectively. They will use the money to offer scam advice and prevention programmes to help stop hundreds of their clients losing money to fraudsters.

Two county wide groups were awarded £5,000 each. Mediation Herts Homeless will work with residents affected by matters including anti-social behaviour, bullying and verbal abuse which has escalated to the attention of the police. The Hertfordshire Association for the Care and Rehabilitation of Offenders Recovery (HACRO) are providing a programme to prevent young people getting involved in crime.

Mr Lloyd said: “The best way to make Hertfordshire a safer place for everyone is to prevent crimes from happening in the first place. These awards are going to organisations whose primary aim is to stop reoffending and repeat victimisation.

“This includes areas of crime which are of high concern to members of the public, which includes those who are at risk of violence against women and girls, serious violence against young people and fraud.”

Action Fund grants of up to £5,000 are available to support community and voluntary initiatives which will reduce crime and make Hertfordshire a safer place to live by helping to deliver the aims of the Community Safety and Criminal Justice Plan for Hertfordshire (2022 – 2027). 

The Fund allows the Commissioner to engage with, and provide a presence to, the wider community. It ensures that non-statutory organisations can bid for funds to support innovative crime prevention and reduction initiatives, including collaboration with district Community Safety Partnerships. Along with the third sector, they have utilised funding to deal with emerging issues, or to support neighbourhood engagement projects.

The fund empowers local groups to find solutions to community safety problems. Bids are assessed and put forward to the Commissioner by the Hertfordshire Community Foundation.

The Commissioner is keen to work with and fund a range of organisations from the community who have a shared interest in delivering positive outcomes and improved services for residents.

The next application deadline for funding is currently open until October 10th 2023 and more details can be found at https://www.hertscommissioner.org/listening-and-responding/funding/police-and-crime-commissioners-action-fund/.