Street Reach is Element's front line youth work programme, we send outreach youth workers where they're needed most on the streets of Sheffield.

The project is aimed at young people who may be at risk or engaged in gun, gang and knife crime. Young people from school age to young adults can participate in the project whether they are directly or indirectly involved in gun, gang and knife crime. Our focus is intervention, safety, and risk to young people.

We aim to contact and develop links with street-based young people who have no direct access contact or engagement with conventional Youth Service provision, primarily disaffected young people. The young people are contacted through local cafes, barbershops and the areas/locations that they hang out, or third parties who signpost them to us. We can be contacted in these locations six days weekly.

How can I get involved?

We are keen to have local stakeholders and parents involved through advocacy, open-door policies and contributing directly to the discussions with young people around the community. Interested? Call us on 0114 2999 210.

Success so far...

To date we have built up contact and trust with local residents, a football team, Community Centres and local shopkeepers leading to the sharing of information around the discharging of a firearm and some concerning Police activities in one particular location that we currently work in.

Street Reach youth worker Dave recalled some recent meetings with young people:

We held our first meeting with some of the young people that we have targeted to work with at SADACCA. During the meeting a community activist who came along to support us with the young people told them, “you can trust these guys, they are here to help and this kind of opportunity does not come along ever yday”. His intervention helped to bridge a significant gap with the young people and open up the conversation.

We recently had a parent arrive at our office with three young people (one her son) whom she described as being at risk from gang-related activities. One of the young people had been stabbed on several occasions and had only been released the day before. Dave met with them and spent some time talking about the “fear” of being on the streets and the macho culture that exists. At the end of the session they agreed to come back and see Dave in a couple of weeks to explore what they might become involved with at Element.

This project wouldn't be possible without the support of our funders, the Home Office. Find out more. about their work.