News | Tuesday, 21st May 2019

Project turning young lives around extended by Comic Relief

Getting Out For Good has provided activities and mentoring for dozens of young women

A research project transforming the life chances of girls and young women has had its Comic Relief funding extended for a further two years.

Getting Out For Good, led by Dr Deborah Jump from the University’s Manchester Centre for Youth Studies (MCYS), provides free activities for young people who may have been excluded from school, at risk of being exploited or getting involved in crime.

The activities include boxing, drama and football, as well as mentoring sessions from youth charity Positive Steps and the opportunity to gain qualifications – improving their self-confidence and enabling them to learn new skills.

Since 2017, Getting Out For Good has helped over 90 young women aged between 14 and 24.

The project has now been granted an additional £150,000 from Comic Relief and will run until 2021.

Earlier in May, it was covered by BBC News, who spoke to many of the young women who had been through the programme.  

Iman told BBC News: “I feel more confident in being able to do stuff without feeling judged. They’ve helped me feel stronger about myself and find out stuff that I’m actually good at.”

Dr Jump, Senior Lecturer in Criminology, said: “The additional fund is wonderful, it means we can continue to work with at-risk young women and girls across Greater Manchester. We have seen the positive impact the project has had on the lives of the young women and this will enable us to keep working with them, whilst providing much needed resource.” 

Getting out for Good is one of many youth-led research projects ran by MCYS, whose unique collaboration with statutory bodies and service providers has helped to make Greater Manchester a beacon for innovative and effective approaches to youth justice.

Its expertise is also being recognised at a national level. Professor Hannah Smithson, head of MCYS, was recently appointed Chair of The Standing Committee of Youth Justice, an alliance of organisations working to improve the youth justice system in England and Wales.

She said: “I am delighted to be working with the SCYJ. It has a strong history of working to improve the youth justice system. I have always been impressed by the work they do in advocating for a child-focused youth justice system and I’m hoping to be able to contribute MCYS’s expertise in this area.”