Jason
Hill.
Jason spent his police career working with the young people nobody else wanted to take on. Now retired from the Met, he brings that experience, and a lifetime of building partnerships, to Youth Unity.
“We cannot simply arrest our way out of the current situation.”
The kids nobody else wanted
Before retiring, Jason was the Metropolitan Police’s Youth Engagement Coordinator for the North East Sector. He ran his own football-based Friday night project for at-risk young people and supported a further 14 projects across Newham and Waltham Forest, reaching more than 2,000 young people.
“Basically, I work with the kids that nobody else wants, or they find too difficult to handle,” he said at the time. Many had been through the custodial system or were on the edge of it, referred in by schools, pupil referral units and social services. Others were privately educated and wanted to be lawyers. On Friday nights, they all played football together.
From six to hundreds
Jason’s Salisbury Hall Friday Night Project in Waltham Forest started with just six young people. It grew to around 100 every week, with nearly 800 registered and young people travelling from all over London to take part. Some went on to Crystal Palace and Peterborough United.
Alongside football, the projects he supported offered cricket, dance, bike building, theatre, gardening, mental health sessions, and rap and grime workshops. Young people moved on to apprenticeships, coaching qualifications and the Police Cadets, and anti-social behaviour fell by 6.6% in the areas where the projects ran.
Bringing everyone round the table
Jason has always believed that partnership is the only way. As a police officer, he could bring schools, charities, coaches, councils and former young offenders together with no political or financial agenda, once getting 27 partners around one table. He also championed a Youth Independent Advisory Group, making sure young people with lived experience had a real say.
Above all, it comes down to rapport and trust. On his projects, young people stopped batting an eyelid at a police uniform, because the officers just joined in and started chatting. Breaking down those barriers is what Jason now brings to Youth Unity as our Ambassador, helping to spread the word about our work and bring new partners and supporters on board.
