Dr Lawrence Foley, Future Academies chief executive, fosters partnerships with local charities with the goal of reducing youth violence in local communities. This article will look at Home Cooked, a violence reduction programme financed by the Mayor of London’s Violence Reduction Unit as part of efforts to tackle youth violence across London.
Home Cooked presents a range of initiatives for young people and their families, providing employment support, sports provisions and mental health support, as well as a future leaders programme. Launched with the mission of ensuring a safer, stronger and more inclusive Tottenham Hale, Home Cooked has supported 858 young people and local residents to date, delivering professional training for 122 people and awarding £235,000 in vital funding for grassroots organisations.
In the Northumberland Park ward, Home Cooked recently secured £800,000 in funding over two years for its innovative youth violence reduction project. With funding granted by the Mayor of London’s Violence Reduction Unit, the project will build upon the success and lessons learned with Home Cooked Tottenham Hale, furthering the organisation’s mission of enabling local people to live in safe neighbourhoods by providing communities with the skills and resources required to reduce violence and lead change.
Putting young people and residents at the centre of its community development and violence reduction schemes, Home Cooked works in partnership with authorities and community sector organisations to ensure that plans are shaped around each community’s unique assets and strengths, taking into account factors that are important to local people and ensuring that the community’s vision is represented throughout the project.
Reflecting on Home Cooked’s Northumberland Park violence reduction project, The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, suggested the major funding boost would help communities target interventions through mentoring, youth work and after-school activities. Prioritising neighbourhoods in the greatest need of support, the scheme will not only invest in networks in key areas affected by violence but also allow Home Cooked to expand its community-led approach to every London Borough.
Home Cooked’s first initiative was launched in July 2021, introduced by a consortium led by the Bridge Renewal Trust and including Mind in Haringey, The Godwin Lawson Foundation, the North London Partnership Consortium and Father2Father. At an event hosted by the Harris Academy, a school located in the heart of Tottenham Hale, partner organisations came together to show their support, including representatives from the police, Haringey Council, key community organizations and the ward’s local MP. Students from the Harris Academy highlighted the reasons why it was so important for Home Cooked to make a difference in the local area, sharing personal experiences of how violence, guns and knives affected their lives.
Speaking at the event, Rachel Hughes, the Bridge Renewal Trust chair, thanked the Mayor’s London Violence Reduction Unit for funding the project, expressing her team’s excitement at working with the local community and partner agencies to ensure Tottenham Hale is a place where everyone feels they belong, free from fear of violent crime. Also present at the event, Haringey Council leader, Councillor Peray Ahmet, expressed his confidence that the project would make a big difference for the local community.
David Lammy, MP for Tottenham, described Home Cooked as a ‘fantastic initiative’, pointing out that for communities like Tottenham, such grassroots initiatives are strengthening community networks and providing positive alternatives to crime. Harris Academy Tottenham executive principal, Dr Lawrence Foley, said he was proud of the academy’s students for giving their thoughtful perspectives on the drivers of violence, putting forward their suggestions on how the community can work together to find solutions. Dr Foley pointed out that the academy had played a central role in serving local children and families since its inception, expressing his pride of its role as a key beneficiary and partner in this vital new initiative.
