Testing if Summer Jobs can reduce violence for young people in high crime areas

While uncommon in the UK, the general trend of Summer Jobs Employment Programmes (SYEPs) in the US has been to reduce crime and violence among young people. At the Youth Endowment Fund (YEF), we planned a Summer Jobs Programmme. Working with the Government and Youth Futures Foundation, we planned to test how best to invest in SYEPs to reduce crime and youth violence here in the UK.

Short-term, paid summer placements help transform the life chances of hundreds of thousands of Britain’s most disadvantaged young people by:

1. Providing high-quality work opportunities attractive to vulnerable youngsters aged 16–24, with the direct aim of improving their job prospects and reducing youth violence
2. Generating robust evidence on impact in reducing youth violence, and improving education, employment and wellbeing to inform future policy and best practice.