Chris Cave Foundation

Community

02 July 2025

Project overview.

Case study type: Community support
Activity: Support for young unemployed and a knife-crime campaign

A team of young people from Teesside who supported a campaign about the dangers of knife crime as part of their Prince’s Trust (now King’s Trust) Team programme won themselves a national award for their project

Working with a local artist and the Chris Cave Foundation, a charity that supports victims and works tirelessly to educate young people about the dangers of carrying knives, the 16 to 25 year-olds created The Tree of Life, a colourful mural on a gable wall in Redcar.

The project won the team the national Prince’s Trust Community Impact Award, in the face of strong competition from more than 280 projects across the UK.

UKSE, a long-term supporter of the King’s Trust Team Programmes, delivered in the area by the Education Training Collective and designed to help young people into employment, funded the equipment and paint needed for the project.

“We are so grateful to the young people and to UKSE for helping to create this mural. It is not only a wonderful memorial but a continuing contribution to our work in deterring knife crime. The falling leaves on the tree include the names of more than 200 victims from the North East and across the UK.”

Theresa Cave, founder of the Chris Cave Foundation, whose son Chris lost his life to knife-crime

How we did it.

UKSE is a long-term supporter of the King’s Trust Team programmes in the Tees area, helping unemployed young people into employment and supporting local community projects at the same time. UKSE’s Community Support Fund in the North has now donated £340,000 to a wide range of organisations and activities.

The results.

Support for young unemployed

On-going support for the King’s Trust programmes has helped hundreds of young people acquire skills they need to find employment.

Helping communities

Local charities and organisations like the Chris Cave Foundation rely heavily on funding from supporters to help improve the lives of people in their communities.

Moving forward

The King’s Trust Team programmes and the Chris Cave Foundation continue to develop their vital work aimed at improving the lives of people in their local communities.