PROJECT
SFSC Safer Lives
Supporting families with children and young people involved in or at risk of offending and youth violence
The SFSC Safer Lives project funded by YEF sees the roll out of an adapted version of Race Equality Foundation’s evidenced-based Strengthening Families, Strengthening Communities (SFSC) model alongside an efficacy study evaluation.
Our approach
Trauma-informed and inclusive, the SFSC: Safer Lives programme is designed to support families where a young person is at risk of offending, or youth violence. It aims to reduce offending by strengthening family relationships, increasing parental confidence and promoting young people’s self-discipline, social competencies and self-esteem.
Families supported by the SFSC Safer Lives programme
The SFSC Safer Lives programme is designed to support families where a young person (aged 11-18) is:
- involved in, or at risk of, offending behaviours (such as assault, robbery, drug sales, or online harm) or youth violence,
- in contact with youth justice services, or
- identified by schools, police, or community organisations as at risk.
Families will be referred by: Youth Offending Teams; Schools; or Police. Our goal is to reach families earlier in the risk pathway, before youth violence becomes entrenched.
Project details
The pilot phase (launching April 2026), will involve 80 families across five delivery sites: four in London, one in Manchester. Each site covers 2-3 local authorities. The full programme and study, running from April 2026 to February 2028, will involve up to 600 participants.
About the evaluation
The SFSC Safer Lives programme will undergo rigorous independent evaluation funded by the Youth Endowment Fund’s Supportive Homes programme. This will be led by Dr Sajid Humayan of Greenwich University in partnership with Dr Charlotte Lennox from the University of Manchester and Dr Anita Mehay from City St George’s, University of London.
Background
Blogs
Safer Lives moves into pilot phase
The Safer Lives project has now moved into the pilot phase of the study, marking an important milestone as delivery begins to take shape across our partner areas. Safer Lives is a three-year research project exploring how the Strengthening Families, Strengthening Communities (SFSC) programme [...]
Getting Safer Lives ready: building trust, teams and momentum
Safer Lives is a three-year research project exploring how the Strengthening Families, Strengthening Communities (SFSC) programme can support families and young people affected by offending and serious violence. Funded by the Youth Endowment Fund, the project brings together community-based delivery and academic research to [...]
Race Equality Foundation awarded Youth Endowment Fund grant for Safer Lives project
We’re delighted to share that the Race Equality Foundation has been awarded funding from the Youth Endowment Fund (YEF) through its Supportive Homes programme to deliver the Safer Lives project. This new phase builds directly on the feasibility study we completed with YEF in [...]
SFSC: Safer Lives Parenting Programme with Youth Endowment Fund
The SFSC:Safer Lives project, funded by the Youth Endowment Fund, saw the delivery of the Race Equality Foundation’s evidence based Strengthening Families, Strengthening Communities (SFSC) programme to parents of young people involved in or at risk of violence and offending behaviour. SFSC delivery took [...]
