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• Youth bus big success in its first week

Youth bus big success in its first week

A former tour bus for rockers Status Quo has found a new lease of life as the new 'Equipped to Go' youth bus.

In an initiative by Westminster and Brent councils, the tour bus has been fully equipped (as the name implies) with state of the art laptop pods and other resources to engage young people in more worthwhile activities and prevent anti-social behaviour. The initiative has been the brainchild of the Brent outreach teams in response to gang activity in the problem areas between the two boroughs.

The Mozart estate is currently playing host to the bus every Friday and Saturday between 7pm and 10pm until the end of March. It is open to all young people aged 11-19 years. Its first weekend saw 50 young people coming along to check it out and has been very successful since.

The project's coordinator reports that the young people are grateful to have somewhere to go during the hours the bus is there. The team is also using the opportunity to challenge young people’s thinking around ASB, gangs, guns and knives, social relationships and sexuality.

The CityWest Homes Mozart team continue to work together on diversion initiatives with the local safer neighbourhood team and youth offending team - their most recent success being two young people signing up to Acceptable Behaviour Contracts last week.