Minister for crime prevention Alan Campbell was at West Glebe Park in Corby yesterday to meet the people behind the award-winning Jam Team, which has helped to get youngsters off the streets and involved in positive projects.
Mr Campbell spent tim
e listening to stories from teenagers who have benefited from Jam Team activities and heard about their dreams for the future.
The minister said: "I was very impressed. I was aware the Jam Team had won the Home Office's Tilley award last year and I knew about the important work they were doing. The Jam Team is going out of its way to engage with young people, sometimes in unorthodox ways.
"It is working very closely and is well supported by the local authority and the police."
To tackle alcohol misue, youth workers have used beer goggles to simulate the effects of being drunk and displayed life-sized cut outs of parts of the body to show the effects of alcohol. The team has also delivered interactive sessions on the streets and places where young people gather.
Corby Business Academy pupil Luke Rielly, 14, said: "I was hanging around the streets and drinking at the weekends.
"There was nothing to do but now, with the Jam Team, there is lots to do. The youth club at the Autumn Centre is a really good place to be."
The team's co-founder Ann-Marie Lawson, from Groundwork North Northants, said: "Corby Jam Team uses informal education to encourage young people to think about the consequences of their behaviour."
Leader of Corby Council, Cllr Pat Fawcett, said there had been a 40 per cent reduction in crime in the last six years in the borough.
