C.A.R.E.

Streets of Growth’s Centre for Applied Research & Evaluation

Continual Learning to Know & Surpass the Limits of Our Approach.

Two men looking at a document at a desk in an office. One man with a mustache and dark hair, the other bald, appears older. There are papers, a laptop, and a window in the background.

Streets of Growth’s Centre for Applied Research & Evaluation (C.A.R.E.) is dedicated to transforming the fields of Youth Work, Youth Intervention and Contextual Safeguarding. C.A.R.E. focuses on and incorporates the following –

Applied Research for internal learning and public engagement, alongside developing tools to track and quantify our interventions, and qualitative methods to ensure the voices of young people inform our work. 

Evidence-led Impact Evaluation gathering evidence that traditional metrics miss. For example, cultural barriers, contextual challenges, and our intensive efforts at street level to build trust with young people disengaged with systems.

Culture of Learning that places a strong emphasis on employee development, innovation, and behavioural integrity. This includes consistent reflection upon our organisational effectiveness by ensuring our practice is research and evidence-led.

Collaborative & Consultative and open to generating intentional partnerships with community organisations, academic institutions, researchers, and wider experts in the global field to further our cause to safeguard children and young people exposed to harms outside the home.

The purpose and development of C.A.R.E. follows three decades of frontline practice focused upon harms children and young people experience outside the home and represents our commitment to continually generate evidence-led data that inform and advance learning, improve training, transform practice, impacts and policy. It is also to share knowledge, build partnerships at local, national and global levels, and inform research, policy, funding, and systems change.C.A.R.E. is focused upon uncovering and discovering what really works by translating research into practice.

  • Moving forward, Streets of Growth’s aim is to influence the wider field of youth-focused interventions by publishing research based on our unique approach to addressing harms outside the home. In the next 18-24 months, C.A.R.E. aims to increase public engagement by publishing in open-access journals, presenting research at conferences, and forming academic partnerships. We aim to position C.A.R.E. as a learning hub for evidence-led practice, combining practitioner and research insights to drive impact in the youth intervention space and to improve safeguarding practices in context.

  • Our evidence-led data system is built on real lives and in real time, where we incorporate research approaches and evidence and integrate practitioner expertise, experience, and context. This allows us more flexibility and tailoring of interventions to individual need and starting points. Not only can this lead to more effective outcomes in complex situations and the specific context of the situation, but it also allows for a broader and better-informed interpretation of what constitutes "evidence." For us, our evidence collating is not simply a ‘tick box’ exercise. It's about being transparent, responsible and accountable when nurturing change from the ground up and truly equipping and empowering the young communities we serve.

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  • Streets of Growth was built on the foundations of brave and bold experiential frontline practice and ‘best approach’ global research. For us, it’s not just about learning new methods to simply try and solve problems that are ‘out there’. It’s about how we ourselves learn how to learn more effectively by ‘looking inwards’ at ourselves to identify how we may be unintentionally contributing to and blocking the very creativity with our own bias. And, designing in and executing the corrective actions if we are. Put simply – Continually paying full attention to our own behaviours and the way we think and operate, then adapting accordingly. Easier said than done and why we have created a Culture of Learning element into our applied research and evidence-led evaluation to make individual and team learning far more tangible and explicit.

  • For all queries and enquiries relating to C.A.R.E. please contact Darren Way – Lead of the Centre for Applied Research & Evaluation.

Bridging
Communities:

Darren Way with new London Met Police recruits.

Training Police Through Lived Experience and Proven Practice

Streets of Growth Consultants training new Police Constables and trainee Detectives in our model of approach and ‘lived experience’ neighbourhood insights as part of the Met Police Familiarisation Training.

Testimonials

“Familiarisation Week occurs at Week 12 of a new Police Officer’s career. In the weeks prior, they will have attended Training School (Hendon). The purpose of Familiarisation Week is to orient and ground them in the area where they are going to the Police. Streets of Growth continues to sit proudly amongst these sessions, providing pioneering insight into the most complex of issues. The sessions provide the new Police Officers with an opportunity to learn about policing in a wider context considering trauma, social/economic impact and diversion, whilst prioritising empathy and, where appropriate, enforcement. New Police Officers are surveyed on completion of the week, and my staff always rank in the highest percentile in terms of satisfaction, where our community sessions are routinely commended. For that, we give Streets of Growth our thanks.”

– Sgt Dan Wright, Met Police

Two London Police Officers walking down the streets of London.jpg

“Streets of Growth’s Familiarisation talk is probably one of the most impactful talks I've ever listened to.”

– Trainee Officer, Met Police