Silver Jubilee Big Tick

PRUPIM - Silver Jubilee Big Tick

Fourteen year partnership with Crime Concern empowering young people to make communities safer

Young people gain from having the opportunity to make positive contributions in their local community ... schools gain new and strong community links.  Businesses and communities gain from the resulting reductions in crime and anti-social behaviour.

Rosie ChadwickDirector of Prevention Services, Crime Concern

PRUPIM is one of the leading real estate investment managers in the UK with over £19 billion invested across all UK sectors and overseas. Employing 330 staff, it is part of M&G, the investment arm of Prudential plc in the UK and Europe. The Prudential 4 Youth programme engages and empowers young people as partners in tackling crime and community safety issues through active citizenship and social enterprise.

The partnership started in 1993 when the Prudential Youth Action Initiative was launched with Crime Concern. The principle aim remains the same today, to empower young people as partners in making communities safer. This initiative was rolled out across the country, with the Prudential Youth Action team working alongside national and local community partners to incorporate the approach into community safety strategies and action plans. The partnership continued with great success, gaining recognition from the Home Office, Department for Education and Employment (DfEE) and the Youth Justice Board.

In 1998 the Prudential Youth Action Shopping Centre Programme was launched, which operated from many of the UK shopping centres owned by Prudential plc and managed by PRUPIM. This programme built on the Prudential Youth Action Initiative and incorporated many of its strategies.

In 2003 the Prudential 4 Youth programme was launched which further built on the previous knowledge and experience from the various community safety projects at the shopping centres. The programme is funded by Prudential plc and managed by PRUPIM and Crime Concern. In 2004 a total of fifteen Prudential-owned shopping centres were actively participating in the programme, each one focusing on issues of importance to the local community, such as vandalism, graffiti, mobile phone theft and substance misuse.  Each project had its own unique identity and aimed to:

  • Reach and involve young people who are considered most at risk
  • Tackle crime and address community and personal safety issues
  • Dispel some of the myths and fears associated with young people in modern society
  • Achieve trust and respect by building bridges between the generations
  • Give young people a voice in their community

The Prudential 4 Youth programme is the most recent development of the successful fourteen-year partnership between Prudential, PRUPIM and Crime Concern. The initiative brings together Prudential-owned and PRUPIM-managed shopping centres, staff, retailers, young people and local communities to take action against a range of community safety issues, examine the wider community safety agenda and to work together to divert young people from criminality and social exclusion.

Prudential plc provides £50,000 funding each year for the Prudential 4 Youth programme and pays the costs of a seconded employee. The Director of Corporate Responsibility at PRUPIM and the CR assistant are also heavily involved in the strategic direction of the programme. The funding and support is currently invested in eleven core projects which focus on active citizenship and social enterprise and help to empower over 1000 young people annually by encouraging them to devise creative solutions to anti-social behaviour. Since the launch of the partnership between PRUPIM, Prudential and Crime Concern, over 40,000 young people have been successfully engaged.

Timeline

1993

Prudential Youth Action Initiative launched in conjunction with Prudential, Crime Concern and PRUPIM.

1998

The Youth Action Group approach was included as an integral part of the 1998 Crime and Disorder Act guidance to community safety partnerships.

1998

Prudential Youth Action Shopping Centre Programme was launched which operated from many of the UK shopping centres owned by Prudential and managed by PRUPIM.

2003

The Prudential 4 Youth Programme was launched builing on the previous knowledge and experience from the various community safety projects at the shopping centres.

2004

The Manchester Arndale project wins a BITC Big Tick award for its partnership between the public, private and voluntary sectors.

2005

The Say Yes Challenge is created for the Prudential 4 Youth Programme at West Orchards shopping centre, Coventry leading to an innovative creation by a group of year 10 girls from Ernesford Grange School in Coventry, called the ‘TXT Zone’ Scheme.

March 2006

The ‘TXT Zone’ Scheme is fully implemented with the Rt. Hon Hazel Blears MP visiting the centre to view the scheme, which later wins two awards.

2007

The Cwmbran ‘Street Sounds’ Prudential 4 Youth project led to 41% reduction in the number of anti-social incidents recorded during the project at Cwmbran Town Centre and wins an ATCM Wales 2007 award for Promoting Community safety.

The first annual Prudential 4 Youth Conference takes place showcasing a number of projects with speakers including HRH the Princess Royal, the Rt. Hon Hazel Blears MP, Paul Scott-Lee, Chief Constable, West Midlands Police and Philip Broadley, Group Finance Director, Prudential

Impact

  • 21.6% reduction in insurance claims as a result of malicious damage through the Manchester Arndale anti-vandalism project.
  • 16% reduction in the theft of mobile phones through the Wolverhampton Mander Centre project.
  • 70% reduction in youth nuisance through the Washington Galleries, Tyne & Wear, project.
  • 41% reduction in the number of anti-social incidents recorded during the project at Cwmbran Town Centre.
  • 74% of shoppers feeling safer in the West Orchards shopping centre, Coventry as a result of an innovative ‘Txt Zone’ scheme, designed by young people.
  • 97% of retailers at West Orchards felt that the ‘Txt Zone’ scheme was a great idea.
  • In a recent employee survey, conducted by PRUPIM, 85% of staff surveyed felt ‘proud to work for PRUPIM’ and 83% felt that ‘PRUPIM is a good employer’.