IMPACT (Inclusive Model of Partnership Against Car Theft)
IMPACT is a multi agency project set up in 2001 as a result of demands from the community to the Probation Board for Northern Ireland to address the issue of car crime in West Belfast. In February 2005 a three year independent evaluation of IMPACT stated that; ‘IMPACT has made a significant contribution’ to the fact that the level of car crime in West Belfast has fallen in the past 3 years:
IMPACT works on 3 levels:
1.Education and Prevention Programmes in primary and secondary schools and youth clubs.
2.Preventative and diversionary programmes of work targeted at those vulnerable to involvement in car theft activity.
3.Intensive supervision of the most persistent offenders engaged in car crime to reduce their offending behaviour.
The IMPACT Project recently won the Butler Trust Inside Out Restorative Justice Award for their work in Hydebank Young Offenders’ Centre with high risk young offenders.
IMPACT is based in the Sally Gardens Community Centre in West Belfast. To find out more, get in contact with IMPACT on 028 90627321 or visit their website www.theimpactproject.org.uk.