New Police and Crime Commissioner Festus Akinbusoye was joined by young people from across Bedfordshire this week to invest £28,000 in improved spaces for young people.

Today, Tuesday 18th May, the PCC Festus Akinbusoye, and Chief Executive, Clare Kelly, hosted an online event with students from Bedford Academy and Denbigh High school to discuss improved spaces for young people in Bedfordshire.

Commissioner Akinbusoye said “One of the best things decision-makers can do is to empower the people they are trying to support. I offered the chance to our young people to make decisions on behalf of their generation and they did not disappoint. They worked together and showed decisiveness as they worked through carefully all the options we gave them.”

Council leaders from across Bedfordshire were invited to bid into the Commissioner’s Youth Spaces Fund. Bids were encouraged to either make spaces safer or to provide safe spaces to go to for young people.  Over £40,000 worth of bids were received so the young people from Denbigh High, Bedford Academy, and Shefford based Youth Involvement were asked to work together on analysing the bids and deciding where the money should be allocated.

This fund of money has become available to the Commissioner because of the Violence and Exploitation Reduction Unit grant that was won this year. Project Manager for the VERU Kimberley Lamb arranged for the young people to support the Commissioner with this important spend as it fits well with the VERU ethos of empowering our young people.

Chief Executive of the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner, Clare Kelly said “The care and diligence the young people gave to this process should be applauded. I think the schools involved have done a fantastic job in supporting their young people and I am grateful to them for giving us this precious time in what we understand is a busy educational day. Although the session was designed to share knowledge with the students, I have to say we learned a lot from them as well.”

The winning bids were: