Cleveland’s Violence Reduction Unit (CURV) provides strategic leadership and coordination to tackle serious violence.
It does so via a whole-system, public health approach.
CURV works collaboratively with specified authorities, partners, and communities to reduce harm and create safer environments. These are places, where individuals, families, and communities can live, learn, and work free from the fear and consequences of violence.
Its approach prioritises evidence-based interventions. They align funded activities with the Youth Endowment Fund Toolkit, particularly those rated as ‘high impact.’
This ensures CURV can make contributions to the local, regional, and national evidence base on what works to prevent serious violence.
KPIs
Key performance indicators include the following:
- Reducing hospital admissions for knife-related assaults
- Reducing knife-enabled offences
- Reducing all non-domestic homicides
The Home Office funding agreement requires CURV to commission interventions whcih address known drivers of violence. These include adverse childhood experiences, unresolved trauma, disrupted attachment, exposure to violence and established criminal identities.
These factors are especially evident among young adult men in custody, who face a significantly elevated risk of continued violent offending on release.
Get Real
In response, CURV wants to fund Get Real Youth Services International CIC to deliver the Group Rehabilitation Programme (GRP) at HMP Holme House.
This is a trauma-informed, relationship-based intervention. It is designed to support men aged between 18 and 30 to develop emotional regulation, accountability, and pro-social identities. As a result, the likelihood of future violence is reduced.
Key Priorities
This initiative primarily aligns with the Police and Crime Commissioners Police and Crime Plan priority of tackling offending and, more specifically, re-offending.
It also contributes to the priorities of reducing crime, antisocial behaviour and harm and ensuring the right support for victims and vulnerable people.
The programme aligns with CURV’s public health approach by addressing the root causes of violent behaviour . It also supports long-term prevention and safer outcomes for individuals and communities.
Additionally, the initiative aligns with CURVs recent Strategic Needs Assessment (SNA), which highlights that older age groups account for a significant proportion of serious violence in Cleveland.
Targeting men aged 18 to 30 ensures the GRP directly responds to this identified area of harm. A full programme summary, is attached at Appendix A.
The meeting approved £13,500-worth of funding for Get Real Youth Services International CIC to pilot the delivery of the Group Rehabilitation Programme (GRP) at HMP Holme House Prison. The funding is for a period to the end of March 2026.
DRF 2025-26: 030 – Group Rehabilitation Programme Pilot. Appendix A (application, 19kB)