RHP mentoring scheme receives MOPAC funding

Published by Eddie for Richmond Housing Partnership Limited in Housing and also in Communities

RHP will receive £2,000 funding from the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC) to support the expansion of its inspirational mentoring scheme for young people. The funding forms part of MOPAC’s commitment to provide crime and disorder grants to organisations that proactively help to reduce crime and anti-social behaviour in London.

The housing association’s mentoring scheme was set up by RHP Community Engagement Advisor, Sue Honey, at the Butts Farm estate in Hanworth in 2008. Initially for RHP employees, mentors can now join from the local community and receive extensive training to help them support young people.

Bertie Morse, RHP mentor and Urban Academy Project Manager, says: “The scheme is really beneficial to young people. It gives them the support and confidence they need to choose the right path for them and to succeed in life. And it has a profound effect on the mentors too – you get a better perspective on the pressures young people face.”

RHP customer and mentee Caroline Willmot, aged 17, was shortlisted for Young Tenant of the Year at the Southern TPAS Awards last week. Caroline used to be known to police as ‘high risk’ after becoming involved in serious anti-social behaviour, but since joining the mentoring scheme she has worked hard to turn her life around. Last year she gained an apprenticeship with RHP’s Urban Academy, and Caroline now champions youth services as the vice-chair of RHP’s youth panel.

The mentoring scheme now has 32 volunteer mentors, including two previous mentees, and takes referrals from Feltham Anti Social Behaviour Action Group (FASBAG). For more information visit www.rhp.org.uk