Early Intervention and Prevention - Cardiff Youth Service

The Early Intervention and Prevention Youth Mentor project is delivered by Cardiff Youth Service to all 22 secondary schools and surrounding geographical communities. The project supports young people who are identified as, or at risk of becoming, not engaged in education, employment or training (NEET). It aims to reduce the number of young people who are at risk, or are NEET, and it helps them re-engage. 

The project draws on a range of funding to support workers throughout the Cardiff area, in particular a team of youth mentors. The mentor’s role is to identify barriers to engagement, develop an action plan to meet the needs of the young person, then to support them to be able to complete the actions.  The youth mentors can provide the young people with a positive relationship, time, and the dedicated attention they deserve.

The judges felt this project demonstrated the positive outcomes of using a youth worker approach to engage with NEET young people. In the last year the project has successfully supported 911 individuals.