Our Ex-offender Mentoring Programme was developed in response to the increasing numbers of young Muslims in prison in England and Wales. There are currently over 10,000 Muslims in UK prisons, representing 12% of the total prison population. The Programme was developed in partnership with Muslim Youth Helpline (MYH) and Business in the Community (BITC).
Over the past few months, we have been developing a partnership with Finding Rhythms, a new charity that aims to engage offenders through music, helping them to think about their offending behaviour and the impact it has had on their victims. The partnership with Finding Rhythms represents Mosaic’s continued commitment to working in partnership to support as many young people as possible to fulfil their potential.
Offenders working with Finding Rhythms undertake a five week course structured around improvised music-based workshops, before beginning work with a Mosaic mentor, who will offer holistic support in helping them to prepare for release. Emily Vermont, Co-Founder/Managing Director of Finding Rhythms commented: “We’re thrilled to be working with Mosaic on our first project, bringing victims of crime and prisoners together through music. Through Mosaic we will be sourcing a bank of all important mentors for our participants in prison, and the network of volunteers that this organisation are able to put us in touch with will be an immense support to the project.”
Mosaic’s National Director, Jonathan Freeman commented on the partnership: “We are incredibly proud of the work we do with ex-offenders. Over the summer we’ve seen the first phase of an exciting new pilot in prisons completed in Yorkshire; and a whole new group of ex-offender mentors have been recruited in London. The partnership with Finding Rhythms is yet another example of how Mosaic actively seeks out mutually beneficial partnerships to deliver its programmes and it also symbolises the exciting times ahead for The Ex-offender Programme. “
Mosaic London is now recruiting mentors to support programme delivery, including the Ex-offender Programme, commencing in the autumn term. Anyone interested in becoming a mentor should contact julian.yorke@bitc.org.uk.
