As we approach the end of the year, the director of the SVRU, Niven Rennie, reflects on the last 12 months while looking ahead to achieving more progress in developing interventions and solutions to the violence that infects communities in Scotland. Despite the continued impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, what are some of the key […]

Inspector Cath Lannen has worked as a police officer for 29 years. For the last two years she’s been in charge of the SVRU’s work in Dundee and the surrounding area. It’s been a difficult time for the city with concern around drug-related death rates. Insp Lannen believes a lack of hope could lie at

Damilola Taylor was killed in Peckham in November 2000 at the age of 10. He dreamed of being a doctor. One week before he died, Damilola wrote of his hope to save the world. The Hope Collective, formed to support the 20th anniversary legacy campaign for Damilola Taylor, is a powerful partnership of leading cross

With almost a quarter of Edinburgh families living in poverty, the CEO of the Cyrenians Ewan Aitken reflects in this guest blog on the deep emotional and physical impact he’s seen poverty have throughout his career, and how that feeds his passion for compassionate, supportive work to reduce poverty and its impacts. When I left

A workshop for young people to share their experience of housing, employment and the environment has been held in Glasgow. The event was the latest in a series of youth-led “Hackathons of Hope” which have taken place across the UK over the past few months.   Around 80 young people aged 16 to 24 gathered

Runners all over the globe still have time to sign up to the virtual Moira’s Run being held this weekend (October 23rd/24th). The pandemic means the annual event, which normally takes part in Glasgow’s Queen’s Park, is being held virtually again this year allowing participants to choose their own 5k route. Last year’s successful event

The results are in… Over 400 people in Wallacetown have shared their views in a community survey aiming to help shape the future of the area. With a number of key themes identified work is now ongoing to address priorities from drug dealing to dog fouling but also to build on the positives including those

Scotland must tackle violence in the same way it has taken on Covid-19, a specialist police unit says. The Scottish Violence Reduction Unit is calling for a major public health push across the country to drive down violence in our homes, streets and communities. SVRU director Niven Rennie says, “We’ve seen how effective following the

Heavy Sound work with young people in East Lothian aiming to keep them engaged with education and training. In this article founder Jordan Butler and operations manager Linda Bendle share how they connect with students and help support them to reach their potential. At Heavy Sound we work with young people who are either at