In just two and a half years Street Talk has moved from reaching about 50 women in street sex work to assisting over 150.

Local projects succeeded in reducing levels of anti-social behaviour in the local area by 11.6% in the programme’s first year. One project saw 20% of attendees who were previously repeat offenders gain employment and another project created a youth engagement framework that has encouraged young people attending the pilot project to mentor other young people.

Due to a variety of causes – parental abandonment, exclusion from school, being in trouble with the police – many young people often have no positive role models in their lives and no source of advice when problems occur. YESS act as individual mentors to help young people to get back on their feet.

People who were isolated because of mass unemployment, bereavement and poor health have come together through the new clubs and classes. The snowball effect has renewed community spirit and involved scores of local people of all different ages, from the young to the isolated, the elderly and the frail.