Four years ago, the Commission on Young Lives visited a community project on a housing estate in the North West. The residents described living in fear of a gang of boys, all aged about 14. Known to both the community and police, they were operating a county lines drug route some 80 miles away, using stolen vehicles, carrying knives, intimidating residents, and committing serious acts of violence. Every member of the group had been excluded from school and sent to a local Pupil Referral Unit that they rarely attended. Community workers had been unable to engage with the gang’s leader or his family.

The result was a community trapped in fear, with younger children already beginning to imitate their behaviour. Local people were in despair; nobody seemed to have a plan for turning around these young lives.

That visit was part of the Commission’s year-long inquiry into why some vulnerable teenagers become involved with or at risk of involvement with serious violence, and criminal gangs. Its concluding report, “Hidden in Plain Sight”, published in autumn 2022, described how gaps in the care, health, and education systems, are putting at risk thousands of vulnerable children who have not had the help or support they need.

As the Commission heard repeatedly, the consequences extend beyond individuals, damaging families and entire communities.

The Commission - which planted the roots for our Centre for Young Lives think tank which launched shortly afterwards - put forward proposals for a new “Sure Start for Teenagers" as its key recommendation.

This network of hubs would bring together mental health support, youth services, education, careers advice and family help through a single trusted front door.

The idea was taken up by Labour in opposition, branded ‘Young Futures’, and is now being implemented in government.

Yesterday, we joined the Minister responsible for Young Futures in Manchester as the Government announced the latest roll out of Young Futures hub areas.

Standing in Moss Side Powerhouse, one of the first Young Futures Hubs to open its doors, the Minister reminded us of the vulnerable young people who will benefit as the government accelerates its progress from eight pilot hubs to fifty by March 2027.

To be there to see Ministers rolling out a programme which began as a recommendation following our year-long inquiry steadily becoming part of the national infrastructure of support for young people, was genuinely exciting.

At Moss Side Powerhouse young people can access support for employment, crime prevention, and mental health in one place. Rather than being passed from service to service or left to navigate a confusing system alone, they had access to a trusted local hub where help, opportunities and positive relationships sit side by side.

Young Futures was designed not as another standalone programme, but as a way of bringing services together around the needs of young people themselves.

Many of the ideas now shaping its implementation echo the arguments the Centre for Young Lives has made over the last two years.

Alongside partners, including Catch22 and Agenda Alliance, we have continued to help shape the development of Young Futures. We have argued that hubs should become a genuine single front door for opportunity, helping to tackle the growing number of young people who are not in education, employment or training, while ensuring support is designed around the different experiences of young people, including girls and young women facing violence, exploitation, poor mental health and exclusion.

Recent proposals on devolution have highlighted the role Young Futures could also play in creating shared outcomes, integrated referral pathways and stronger local partnerships between councils, schools, health services, youth organisations, and communities.

The success of Young Futures will not be measured simply by the number of hubs opened, but by whether they become trusted places that bring together support, create opportunity, and protect young people from harm and lost life chances.

There is still a long way to go. Expanding the network of hubs is only the beginning.

But this week's announcement is an important milestone and is a proud day for all of us at the Centre for Young Lives.

Listening to the Minister announce the expansion of this landmark programme, surrounded by young people enjoying themselves, building relationships, and accessing support and advice, it was possible to see how change can really happen .

And most importantly, how young lives can be transformed if the will and determination is there to do it.