New legislation on zombie style knives and start of knife amnesty
A nationwide call to hand over zombie-style knives and machetes has been launched by the government, before these dangerous weapons are banned from our streets from 24 September. From 24 September 2024, new legislation comes into effect which makes it illegal to own zombie-style knives and machetes as they will be added to the list […]
Results of 2024 listening project
The Listening Project is an annual event delivered by Essex Council for Voluntary Youth Services on behalf of the VVU which asks young people across Southend, Essex and Thurrock for their views on youth violence. This year 1434 young people took part and the results are now ready to be shared: Knife crime is the […]
Celebrating the success of our 2024 Community Grant, and launching the 2025/26 funding round
The Police, Fire & Crime Commissioner for Essex has launched the Violence and Vulnerability Unit’s Community Grant Scheme for 2025/26, to help protect young people from violence. The Violence and Vulnerability Unit’s Community Grant Scheme (VVUCSG), which funds projects working to support children in local communities, has in 2023 /24, supported 42 schools, 17 community […]
Knife Angel arrives in Southend
On Monday 1 July representatives from the Violence and Vulnerability Unit visited Southend for the opening ceremony of the Knife Angel – the 27-foot national monument against violence and aggression. The Knife Angel was unveiled in a special ceremony at Victoria Circus which bought together safety partners from across the county, highlighting unity against violent […]
ECVYS launch “We Love Youth Work”
Last night we joined with partners at ECVYS AGM (Essex Council of Voluntary Youth Services) to celebrate their 50th anniversary. ECVYS held their AGM at Layer Marney Tower which also included a celebration of the last 50 years supporting Essex voluntary youth organisations and the launch of their We Love Youth Work campaign. We Love […]
Evaluation and good practice
The VVU recently attended an evaluation workshop to explore how we can further improve our practice, and continually improve our collection of meaningful data to measure the impact of our work. Evaluation is critical to the VVU for many reasons, it helps us understand where we are making impact, it allows us to build on […]
