Chairing the latest Serious Violence Taskforce, set out details of a new
youth advocates programme that will see respected members
of communities, such as sport coaches and youth workers,
receive specialist training in order to have safe
conversations with young people and provide them positive
alternatives to carrying a knife.
He also announced the next stage of the #knifefree
advertising campaign which features real life stories of
youth who have turned away from a life of crime thanks to a
mentor in their community.
Home Secretary, said:
Intervening early in the lives of vulnerable youngsters
is key in combating the rise of serious violence.
It’s therefore vital that we communicate with them
directly through the people in their communities who they
respect and listen to.
That’s why the grassroots advocates programme and our
#knifefree campaign are integral to the work we are doing
to stop this bloodshed.
The new youth advocates programme is running in London and
Manchester and provides local role models expert training
on skills such as safeguarding, diffusing conflict and
substance misuse, this will help them spot warning signs
and give guidance on how to cope in challenging situations.
The youth advocates in London, who work in key community
focal points such as boxing clubs, youth centres and
schools, have already started to receive specific training.
The programme in Manchester will start in the next few
weeks.
To support the advocates conversations with young people,
new #knifefree adverts will run in key London and
Manchester areas. These will tell the real stories of young
people portrayed by actors of why and how they stopped
carrying knives – inspiring others to live knife free.
Members of the taskforce were also shown a preview of the
new #knifefree video. They were also updated on a new
collaboration with youth channel SBTV which saw four
YouTube videos go live on Sunday. The videos were filmed
across the UK and show music artists speaking to young
people from their area about why and how they are both
knife free.
These use popular music artists, such as Bugzy Malone, who
has almost 1 million Instagram followers, to amplify the
#knifefree campaign and directly reach young people and
inspire them to live knife free.
The #knifefree media campaign - which aims to educate 10-21
year olds on the dangers of carrying knives – is one of the
61 commitments in the Serious Violence Strategy which
stresses the importance of early intervention to tackle the
root causes of violent crime and provide young people with
the skills and resilience to lead productive lives free
from violence.
The strategy sets out the importance of a multi-agency
approach to tackling serious violence which involves a
range of partners and agencies. Building on this, on 2
October the Home Secretary announced further measures
including a new £200 million youth endowment fund, an
independent review of drug misuse and a consultation on a
new legal duty to underpin a multi-agency preventative or
‘public health’ approach to tackling serious violence.
