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Prestigious national award for Helena's Craig Fletcher
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| Wednesday 14th October 2009 |
Helena Partnerships is celebrating today after news that employee Craig Fletcher has won a prestigious national award for his work with young people.
Craig won the Tim Winter Award for the Evolution project, which he devised to deter youngsters from making the same mistakes he did when he was younger.
Craig, 31, was arrested in 2004 for supplying Class A drugs on the streets of St Helens and was sentenced to four and a half years in prison. When he was released in 2006 he decided to turn his life around and do something positive.
Evolution is a project designed to challenge young people's attitudes about crime and change negative lifestyles.
The programme aims to deter those involved in anti-social or criminal behaviour from their current lifestyle before it is too late and they end up in prison.
Day one of the project begins in the classroom with stark messages about victim empathy, lifestyles, knife crime and prison life.
The group then visit a prison where the youngsters are able to see with their own eyes where their lives could end up should they choose not to change their lifestyle. Participants get to meet prisoners directly and learn the reality of prison life.
The final day is spent discussing alternative paths for each participant, and engaging them in a positive way with the aim of putting them on a pathway which leads them to productive training or employment.
More than 60 youngsters from across St Helens have now taken part in the programme, and whilst Evolution isn't always the solution, there have been many success stories with participants going back into full time education, volunteering and gaining employment.
After his success at the awards Craig said: "I am both overwhelmed and humbled to win such a prestigious award and more importantly have my work publically recognised. In order to understand the importance of this award for me then I have to reflect back to my time in prison and then look where my life is now. What a massive transformation.
He stated, "The true inspiration for doing this kind of work is not just the pay cheque at the end of the month, because that would never be enough, but when you manage to have a positive impact on a young persons' life."
Mark Jory, Manager of Developing Active Neighbourhoods at Helena Partnerships said: "We are thrilled with the recognition Craig has received for the Evolution project. The project is different from others, in that it engages with youngsters at an early stage to prevent them from going down the wrong path in life. We look forward to working with many more youngsters across St Helens."
The Tim Winter Award, presented at the Social Landlords Crime and Nuisance Group's annual conference, recognises exceptional performance in tackling anti-social behaviour which makes a real difference to individuals and the community. |
| Posted by 0 for Helena Partnerships |
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