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Extra counselling for London’s young crime victims after surge in demand

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A children’s charity has received nearly £50,000 to provide 500 counselling sessions to London’s young crime victims.

City Bridge Trust, the City of London Corporation’s charitable funder, awarded the funding to Embrace Child Victims of Crime (Embrace CVoC), after increasing demand for its services since 2017.

Last year, Embrace CVoC saw requests for help surge by 16%, delivering support to 251 children aged 12–18 years.

The charity, which provides practical, emotional and financial support, says over half were young victims of domestic abuse, had been bereaved as a result of domestic homicide or were suffering from sexual abuse.

Embrace’s CVoC specialist support team also gives access to well-being services including family breaks.

Dhruv Patel, Chairman of the City of London Corporation’s City Bridge Trust Committee, said:

“Violent crime statistics in the capital right now, particularly amongst young people, are very concerning. And the increase in demand for these services echoes the problem.

“These counselling services play a vital role in helping young people look to a better future, and positively move forward with their lives.

“We are working together to make sure these sessions are readily available, and I’m proud that our funding is changing lives.

City Bridge Trust is committed to tackling disadvantage and inequality in London, and we will continue to support charities making the capital a better place in which to live.”

Anne Campbell, Chief Executive of charity Embrace Child Victims of Crime, which provides support for young victims of crime, said:

“This funding will help us to support even more children and families impacted by serious crime across the capital, providing vital interventions to help them recover, brightening their lives and their life prospects.

“These are often the most vulnerable children and from low income households who, otherwise, would not have been able to access this kind of help.

“From gifts to trips, many children will go on to access therapy and we know our support works – children and young people gain confidence, self-worth and vital tools to help them cope into the future.”

Embrace CVoC is a national children’s charity that delivers support in communities across the UK. It helps more than 3,000 children and young people each year.

City Bridge Trust is the funding arm of the City of London Corporation’s charity, Bridge House Estates.

It is London’s biggest independent grant giver, making grants of £20 million a year to tackle disadvantage across the capital.

The Trust has awarded around 8,000 grants totalling over £400 million since it first began in 1995. It helps achieve the City Corporation’s aim of changing the lives of hundreds of thousands of Londoners.

ENDS

Media Enquiries

Kristina Drake

Media Officer, City of London Corporation

[email protected]

07710860884 / 020 7332 1125

Notes to editors

About the City of London Corporation:

The City of London Corporation is the governing body of the Square Mile dedicated to a vibrant and thriving City, supporting a diverse and sustainable London within a globally successful UK.

www.cityoflondon.gov.uk

About City Bridge Trust

City Bridge Trust is the funding arm of Bridge House Estates, a Registered Charity, with its primary aim the maintenance and support of five Thames bridges: Tower Bridge, London Bridge, Southwark, Blackfriars and the Millennium footbridge.

City Bridge Trust was established in 1995 to make use of funds surplus to bridge requirements and provides grants totalling around £20m per year towards charitable activity benefitting Greater London. The City of London Corporation is the sole trustee of the Bridge House Estates.

Full list of grants:

Community Links Bromley £191,630

Body & Soul £60,000

CLIC Sargent £254,000

Ealing Law Centre £108,000

Latin American Women’s Rights Service £82,900

North Kensington Law Centre £100,000

Children England £279,520

Claremont Project £98,800

Covent Garden Dragon Hall Trust £66,000

Crafts Council £100,000

CREATE London £58,000

Headway East London £102,230

Irish Elderly Advice Network £150,000

Islington Boat Club £54,600

London Legal Support Trust £464,000

St Gabriel’s Parish House Trust £100,000

Stepney City Farm £191,800

Stratford Circus Arts Centre £72,000

The French Protestant Church of London £98,500

The Horse Rangers Association Limited £109,000

Young Barnet Foundation £200,000

Young Brent Foundation £200,000

Young Ealing Foundation £220,000

Young Harrow Foundation £200,000

Young Westminster Foundation £200,000

Advocacy in Greenwich £147,400

Albert Kennedy Trust £57,500

British Refugee Council £79,200

Centrepoint Soho £107,100

Embrace CVOC (Child Victims of Crime) £48,800

Evergreen Play Association Ltd £46,200

Islington Mind £181,200

Nafsiyat Intercultural Therapy Centre £66,000

Prison Advice and Care Trust £132,000

Shpresa Programme £52,000

St Clement and St James Community Development Project £95,000

Sycamore Trust U.K. £90,000

Trailblazers Mentoring Ltd £71,000

Waterloo Community Counselling £80,000

London Legal Support Trust £345,000

Participatory City Foundation £450,000

SEUK £200,000


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