Working to reduce violence in Greater Manchester
Established in October 2019, the Greater Manchester VRU is a team of subject leads and experts from Greater Manchester Police (GMP), Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA), Greater Manchester National Probation Service, Public Health, NHS, Education, Community Voluntary Sector, Victim’s Voice, Youth Justice and Local Authorities, addressing the underlying causes of violence and working together with communities to prevent it.
The community-led approach to violence reduction, means the VRU works closely with communities to understand the strengths, challenges, and needs of the community and determine how local investments will be made.
Several boroughs across the city-region have received funding from the VRU as part of its investment in community-led programmes, outlined in Greater Manchester’s Serious Violence Action Plan.
Alliances made up of local voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) organisations will ensure holistic provision targeted at individuals, families, schools and communities of highest need.
A community-led violence reduction pilot is one of the VRU’s flagship projects and is in line with the ambitions of the Greater Manchester Strategy and Public Service Reform programme to involve communities at a place level to identify priorities, problem solve and direct investment and interventions accordingly. Analysis undertaken by the Big Data Centre at Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU) enabled the VRU to identify sites across Greater Manchester for community-led programmes to be implemented.
For information on what the Violence Reduction Unit does in Bolton, please contact Michael Phipps at michael@boltoncvs.org.uk.
