St Giles Trust
Creating positive futures
Since 1962 St Giles Trust has supported people who are held back by poverty, exploitation, abuse, mental health problems or crime to create positive futures. Their award-winning programme SOS+ helps vulnerable young people at risk of becoming involved with gangs, exploitation or violence. SOS+ caseworkers carry out one-to-one intervention, run summer programmes and a job club where young people work on their CVs and interview techniques. They have significantly reduced levels of youth violence in the boroughs where they work and have increased the opportunities and positive life outcomes of the young people they support.
St Giles has been working in the London boroughs of Hammersmith & Fulham, Kensington & Chelsea and Westminster for 10 years. We have awarded a grant of £100,000 to St Giles to expand their work in these boroughs and nearly treble the number of young people they can help. Our grant will enable St Giles to support more than 9,000 young people, raising their aspirations, building resilience to exploitation, and re-engaging them with training and education.
- 267 young people exited gang activity thanks to SOS+ in 2021-22.
- SOS+ helped 1,226 young people improve their employment prospects in 2021-22.
- 549 young people moved into further education or training in 2021-22 with SOS+.
“Some of our students only survive the week or indeed the day because of the mentoring they receive. They are here purely because their mentor has given them the skills, the tools and the ability to minimise the risks that they are exposed to and to cooperate with the school because otherwise there would be conflict all the time. It’s prevented exclusions, exclusions that I believe would have occurred.”
More Success Stories
IntoUniversity
Bright Futures, Aiming Higher Project
