The five Portsmouth and Southampton based programmes selected by Southern Co-op to receive up to £7,500 each from its Safer Neighbourhood Fund are run by Changing Tunes, Community Alcohol Partnerships, Motiv8, The Society of St James and Youth Options.

Changing Tunes is a charity that uses music and mentoring to support the rehabilitation of prisoners and ex-prisoners in Bristol and Southampton. The music sessions provide a safe space for learning and creative self expression, while building trust and confidence.

David Jones, Chief Executive at Changing Tunes, said: “Music is an excellent tool for helping people acquire a valuable skill set that goes beyond musicianship. Our post-release service creates a pathway for ex-offenders to re-join the community and build meaningful relationships.

“Through collaborative music making sessions, beneficiaries develop transferable social and interpersonal skills. We also offer ex-offenders one to one meetings with musicians where they can talk openly about any challenges and issues they are facing. Reoffending rates among Changing Tunes participants are significantly lower than the national average as a result.”

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. One of CAP’s priorities is alcohol education, to ensure that young people are equipped to make the right decisions about a range of issues, including drugs, anti-social and criminal behaviour.

This funding will enable them to identify young people who are most at risk of being involved in criminal activity and encourage them to become Young Health Champions, to lead health awareness and social actions campaigns in their local communities. These will focus on the dangers of alcohol misuse and its link to increased likelihood of criminal activity.

Kate Winstanley, Director of CAP, said: “We know that young people’s drinking can put them at increased risk of physical and social harm. This very welcome funding from the Safer Neighbourhood Fund will enable us to support a further 120 young people across Bournemouth, Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight who are at risk of becoming involved in crime or violence. They’ll not only increase their own awareness of the risks of underage drinking but will be empowered to spread the message to their peers and communities.”

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.

The funding will enable the charity to deliver an eight week Motiv8 REACH (Resilience and Change) programme which helps young people to overcome Adverse Childhood Experiences. The programme uses creative activities and group work to develop young people’s resilience and give them the opportunity to build safe and positive relationships as well as enabling them to cope with the adversity they have experienced.

Sam Cofie, Portsmouth Service Manager at Motiv8, said: “We are really excited about working with Southern Co-op through the Safer Neighbourhood Fund to build on the success and the REACH program and support even more vulnerable young people who we know deserve a better chance in life.”

The Society of St James (SSJ), a Hampshire-based homelessness charity, will be using the funding for a DIY project which will bring together the community wishing to share their practical skills and the adults SSJ works with for some DIY workshops.

Many of the ex-offenders SSJ works with have not benefited from intergenerational learning with basic skills being passed from one generation to the next such as how to wire a plug. With many of SSJ’s service users not having experienced positive relationships with parents/grandparents, these crucial life lessons are important to personal development and self-esteem and the project aims to improve the basic life and social skills of ex-offenders to ensure they maintain and thrive in their crime-free lives.

Mark Gray, Project Leader at SSJ, said: “Receiving funding to support a project such as this, which focuses on building ex-offenders skills, is so valuable to ensuring they are contributing positively to the community in which they live.”

Youth Options, which supports children and young people to improve their life opportunities for a better future, has been running flexible and mobile open-access detached youth projects for the past 10 years across Hampshire. The projects are run in response to hot-spot areas of crime, anti-social behaviour and exploitation.

With the support of Southern Co-op’s Safer Neighbourhood Fund, Youth Options will be able to expand its detached youth work to a new area of Southampton and reach more young people in need with the aim of lowering offending, helping people to feel safe, reducing the burden on local police, and creating better relationships between young people and their communities.

Debbie Burns, Deputy CEO of Youth Options, said: “We could not be more excited to work with Southern Co-op to deliver detached youth work in SO16. Not only will this enable us to support more young people in need, but we are delighted to be able to work with the staff and customers of Southern Co-op to make sure that everyone feels safer in their local community. Thank you to everyone at Southern Co-op for making this possible.”

To read more about the Safer Neighbourhood Fund, click here.