Two community projects have secured funding allocated from the ill-gotten gains of criminals.

Crucial Crew and The Living Room in Stevenage have both received money through the Government's recentlylaunched Community Cashback scheme, where money made from criminals' seized assets is earmarked to fund community projects.

Crucial Crew, which delivers interactive safety messages to 10 and 11 -year-olds, secured £5,500, while The Living Room, an addiction treatment centre, was awarded £20,000.

Members of the public voted on which projects they wanted to see financially supported and the Hertfordshire Criminal Justice Board submitted project proposals for funding.

Successful bids had to demonstrate good value for money and be related in some way to tackling anti-social or criminal behaviour locally. Marianne Vits, business development manager for Hertfordshire Criminal Justice Board, said:

"It is fantastic that we have been able to respond to the community's needs and that the ill-gotten gains of criminals will now be channelled into projects that will make a real positive difference to the local community and the lives of individuals.

"We hope Community Cashback has given people the opportunity to have a stronger voice in the criminal justice sys-tem in Hertfordshire."

Source: The Comet Newspaper