More support for vulnerable young women in Sheffield

It's hoped vulnerable young women in Sheffield will be safer on the streets as the result of a new scheme.

The Together Women's Project have secured 1.2 million pounds from the lottery to support teenage girls in the city who might be at risk of falling into harmful behaviours.

Rokaiya Khan's lead the project - she says protecting young women from sexual exploitation is one of the scheme's big aims:

"Particularly in South Yorkshire it's affected a lot of young people and families. We are going to be providing a whole range of services that will inform, educate and support young people to prevent that happening; where they can go for help, how to keep themselves safe, what are the triggers to look for in sexual exploitation and grooming."

"Young people will be going into schools to inform and educate at the earliest opportunity and what we've found is that if we can provide support services right at the onset then you've got more of a chance of young people being more receptive to the support"

The project hopes to give young people in Sheffield a say in what support they're given.

Rokaiya says that's really important:

"The heart of this project is around giving a voice and influence to young people. So it will be using the experiences of older women that have been through our services, what their issues were, what their triggers were. Looking at early intervention and prevention at the right stages."

Girls will be reached through local schools, children's and youth offending services and given tailored support including healthy relationships, power imbalances and positive sexual behaviours.

Rokaiya says there are a number of issues in our county that they'll help address:

"In South Yorkshire we work in communities where there are a lot of deprived areas, high rates of homelessness, substance misuse, young people not accessing education and employment so it will help us tackle a lot of those issues for us."

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