Five organisations in Portsmouth and Southampton have had a positive effect on the lives and futures of dozens of ex-offenders and young people at risk of criminal behaviour.

With retail crime on the rise, last year Southern Co-op launched its £100,000 Safer Neighbourhood Fund which enabled a dozen programmes across the south to tackle the causes of crime and crime prevention.

In Portsmouth and Southampton these included Changing Tunes, Community Alcohol Partnerships, Motiv8, The Society of St James and Youth Options.

All of their programmes involved ex-offenders, young people engaging in risky, anti-social or criminal behaviour, or young people who have had adverse childhood experiences.

Over the last year, a programme run by Society of St James (SSJ) in Southampton and Portsmouth has enabled 23 ex-offenders to learn new life and social skills to ensure they maintain and thrive in their crime-free lives. Despite the challenges of lockdown, SSJ’s staff brought in members of the community to teach brick-laying, woodworking, landscaping, painting, decorating and training in the skills of using hand and power tools.

This has led to two of them gaining paid employment, one becoming a volunteer and instructing others, and two of the service users have used their skills to complete work at their family’s houses which has helped to rebuild relationships.

One of the service users said: “I want to say thank you. It [the programme] has had a big part in my recovery and has kept me occupied. It took my mind off things when I have been at my lowest and struggled with cravings. It has made me realise I am not all bad. It’s about being able to give something back.

“It’s not just helped me with crime and drugs but also my mental health and wellbeing. My self-harm has reduced. I think there should be more projects like this to help people stop reoffending. I am proof that something like this can help offenders stop reoffending.”

Motiv8, which operates in Portsmouth, Havant, Gosport and Fareham, supports young people and their families in the community, building trusting relationships to help equip them with the skills, resilience and opportunities to thrive.

Due to the pandemic, the programme had to be delivered on a one to one basis helping young people overcome adverse childhood experiences. Each participant was allocated a dedicated Motiv8 support worker who used a combination of remote, virtual and face to face sessions to deliver the programme content.

All of the young people who participated experienced positive outcomes including better relationships with family, improved emotional health and wellbeing and better engagement with their school. Most notably, during their time on the programme none of the young people had any recorded incidents or involvement with the police, either as a suspect or as a victim.

Sam Cofie, Portsmouth Service Manager at Motiv8, said: “The funding that we received from Southern Co-op through the Safer Neighbourhood Fund to deliver our Motiv8 REACH program could not have come at a better time. We are really grateful for the support and flexibility that enabled us to adapt the programme and continue to engage and support some of the most vulnerable young people in our community.”

During the pandemic, Changing Tunes has adapted its post-release programmes and transferred its music and mentoring sessions online to facilitate music-making with beneficiaries and to provide pastoral support.

Rea Mole, Fundraising Manager at Changing Tunes, said: “Southern Co-op’s Safer Neighbourhoods Fund is enabling us to deliver music and mentoring work with ex-prisoners who are based in Greater Bristol, Bournemouth and Southampton.

“Our music rehabilitation work is person-centred and trauma-informed. In this way we are supporting our beneficiaries to achieve vital personal and social outcomes, in turn helping them to lead meaningful, crime-free lives.

“Going forward, we will continue to offer online post-release sessions alongside in-person sessions, so that we can extend flexible support to more ex-prisoners. We are also delighted to announce that we are launching a new record label and artist development scheme, called Red Tangent – the brainchild of a former beneficiary.

“This will be a pathway that our post-release beneficiaries can progress on to. It will support the professional development of ex-prisoners who have the potential and commitment to develop as musicians and producers.”

At Youth Options in Southampton, they have been supporting around 15- 25 young people each night as part of their detached youth work in order to reach more young people in need. The aim has been to lower offending, help people to feel safe, reduce the burden on local police, and to create a better relationship between young people and their communities.

Carly Redwood, Fundraising & Communications Manager at Youth Options, said: “The team has been discussing topics such as anti-social behaviour, knife crime, careers, personal safety, education, hobbies, and providing a wider understanding of how Youth Options can support them.

“We are really pleased with how positively young people of all ages have been engaging with us, and look forward to many more successes over the next few months!”

In Bournemouth and Portsmouth, Community Alcohol Partnerships (CAPs), are local partnerships which aim to tackle alcohol harm among young people, with a particular emphasis on preventing underage drinking.

Despite being affected by lockdown, the team has managed to train 20 young people to become Young Health Champions, to lead health awareness and social actions campaigns in their local communities.

The Safer Neighbourhood Fund has been co-ordinated with the help of Neighbourly, a giving platform that helps businesses make a positive impact in their communities by donating volunteer time, money and surplus products.

While crime is still a very serious issue across the retail sector nationwide, Southern Co-op is continuing to tackle it from every angle – causes, prevention, reporting and justice.

To find out more about Southern Co-op and its co-operative principles, visit southernco-op.co.uk/.