Dr Gemma Morgan and Mr Joe Janes, both lecturers in the Criminology Department at the Hillary Rodham Clinton School of Law, have been awarded £15,000 to evaluate two intervention programmes.
The intervention programmes being evaluated are designed and delivered by the Media Academy Cymru (MAC). MAC work with some of the hardest to engage children, young people and families in Wales. They work with significant numbers of young people who are not in school or training and who may be on the cusp of entering the criminal justice system. MAC run many diverse projects across South East Wales. One common denominator for all their projects is that all services put children and young people and their families at the centre of the work.
The Parallel Lives and Child Exploitation interventions will be the focus of the evaluations. Parallel Lives seeks to prevent and reduce adolescent to parent violence/abuse in the home. The Child Exploitation programme aims to support young people and prevent them from being exploited by organised crime groups such as gangs. The evaluations will focus on examining the impact of the interventions on the young people and families who have engaged with the programmes.
Speaking of being awarded the funding, Dr Gemma Morgan said:
“MAC are an organisation that is committed to child-centred approaches that support young people to achieve their aspirations. We are delighted to be working with MAC to evaluate their intervention programmes. The evaluations will facilitate the identification and sharing of good practices that can help to support young people, as well as areas for improvements to inform more effective service delivery”