Police and Crime Commissioner Steve Turner has visited an organisation delivering street-based youth services in one of Middlesbrough’s most troubled areas.
LINX Youth Project have been delivering support to disadvantaged and disengaged young people from their base in Hemlington since 1993.
They use a targeted approach to engage with the most hard-to-reach and marginalised young people, providing them with safe spaces to socialise and discuss their interests.
The Hemlington area of Middlesbrough has experienced high levels of crime and antisocial behaviour (ASB) in recent months. Seeing improvements in the area has been a key objective of the PCC, who has overseen investments of over half a million pounds in Hemlington since he took up office.
This has included a £40,000 investment from the PCC for additional crime reduction measures such as CCTV and lighting, as well as a £465,000 investment from the Home Office’s Safer Streets fund.
The LINX Project team have received a grant of £5,000 to increase the expert provision they provide to young people over the next six months.
The team are also delivering centre-based provision for around 12 young males, who use the space to eat together and play pool, table tennis or FIFA on the PlayStation.
Steve said “It was great to meet the team at Linx and hear about the street-based work they’re doing to reach young people in their own spaces.
“I want residents in Hemlington to know that this is just part of the significant work that is ongoing in the area to reduce levels of crime and ASB.
“In addition to Cleveland Police’s targeted operations, youth engagement work will continue and further development of crime prevention measures such as lighting, gates and CCTV will help make the area safer.”
Steve met with youth workers Eilis Sexton and Ricky Tomlinson, who will be working directly with young people from Hemlington. They walked around the neighbourhood and discussed how their provision is helping to engage troubled young people.
Senior Youth Worker Eilis said “It was great to welcome Steve into the session and to see him engaging with some of the group – he even won a game of table tennis!
“This provision means the youths have the opportunity to build positive relationships with qualified youth workers and have a safe space to go to on a weekly basis where they’re off the street.”
