Aims and activities
Aims and questions
Aims and activities
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 are looking for new partners to join us as we launch an exciting and ambitious £12m Summer Jobs Programme as of June 2024. Working with the Government and Youth Futures Foundation, we will test how best to invest in SYEPs to reduce crime and youth violence here in the UK.
Main aims: Unlock ~2,600 short-term, paid summer placements to help transform the life chances of hundreds of thousands of Britain’s most disadvantaged young people by:
- 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
- Generating robust evidence on impact in reducing youth violence, and improving education, employment and wellbeing to inform future policy and best practice.
How to get involved
We want to promote and encourage investment in a UK Summer Jobs Programme that reaches the most underserved young girls and boys, women and men. Having secured more than 50% of the budget, YEF is still seeking co-funding from additional partners who want to join us in testing and funding this ambitious and innovative multi-year intervention.
Programme delivery will conclude in the Summer of 2027, with the evaluation ending December 2028. If trial findings are positive, this programme will be scalable nationally beyond the lifetime of this project.
Please get in touch with us to learn more about how you can help. Email caleb.jackson@youthendowmentfund.org.uk
Who's involved
Who was involved
Who was involved
Youth Endowment Fund is leading this opportunity, which is being jointly co-funded with The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and Youth Futures Foundation (YFF). UK Youth are the delivery organisation, recruiting and working with employers. The opportunity itself is based on an initial scoping undertaken by The Ending Youth Violence (EYV) Lab in August 2023. This scoping looked at the feasibility of setting up a UK summer jobs programme and the potential approach to test its impact on youth violence. The scoping confirmed that both the development and delivery of a UK programme and a robust evaluation (e.g. using a Randomised Control Trial) are possible.
Learning and Resources
Can summer jobs reduce violent crime for young people? (Youth Endowment Fund, 2023)
Summer jobs FAQ (Youth Endowment Fund)
