Today Leicestershire Cares was proud to launch a new video co-created with participants on our Unlocking Potential (UP) project.
Lives Not Knives aims to show the impact of knife crime on perpetrators, victims and their families and divert young people away from violent crime.
The video was born from our participants wanting to use their voices and lived experience of knife crime in a positive way, to influence other young people and show them the potential consequences of carrying knives.
Participants were involved in every step of creating the video, from the initial idea and key messages, to storyboarding and doing voiceovers, to presenting the launch.
The video was launched via Zoom with over 60 people attending, including the Police and Crime Commissioner for Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland, representatives from the Violence Reduction Network, professionals from local Youth Justice teams and youth services, and other voluntary sector organisations tackling violent crime in the city and county.
Three of the UP Project participants who were involved in creating the video shared their experiences of the project, what they gained from it and their plans for using the video in the future. We were also pleased to welcome an input from the VRN on the importance of partnership working in tackling violent crime.
The feedback on the video was extremely positive.
Well done guys really good video - so real and people will be able to identify. You should be proud of yourselves for taking this forward.
Thanks Siobhan and the LNK Crew, really great work and will be using video and comments in my work with Young People and Families.
Wow, Leicestershire Cares Lives not Knives animation is vivid, punchy and powerful. Well done to Siobhan and all the participants. Great job everybody. This really needs to be seen and seen widely.
Our participants also gained a lot from the experience of creating the video and presenting its launch.
Today went really well, better than I had originally anticipated and to get the feedback we received has shown us that the message and the campaign behind Lives Not Knives is achieving what we aimed it to. Thank you Siobhan and UP Project, I appreciate the opportunity.
Cairo
Today was an overwhelming success with so much information being given out. I am proud to be part of Lives Not Knives and am excited to deliver on our promise with my peers.
Paul
Today's experience for me was so special because it's been a lot of work spread over such a difficult time (covid & new baby) and today launching and seeing how people react to it and asking us to come talk to people & PROFESSIONALS! Wow! That has blown me away! I feel so strongly about this, it's sparked something in me that will make sure this is a success. I've loved working with my peers, we get on so well and we have great futures ahead of us!
Jade
Watch Lives Not Knives here.
We would like to give a huge congratulations to each of our UP Project participants for their passion, creativity and courage to use their voice and lived experiences in such a positive, powerful way.
We also want to say a huge thanks to the Violence Reduction Network and the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner for supporting our work and making this video possible.
What next?
The young people involved in creating the video will obtain peer mentoring qualifications. They will then lead the delivery of knife crime workshops across Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland, using the video and sharing their lived experiences.
We aim for the workshop to raise awareness of the issues related to knife crime, the severity of violent offences and the impact they can have on victims, perpetrators and their families.
The workshops will be delivered to young people on the UP Project as well as other organisations such as schools, youth clubs and other relevant organisations working with young people.
If you would like to work with us on our upcoming knife crime workshops, please contact Siobhan, the UP Project Development Manager, at siobhan@leicestershirecares.co.uk.
Further reading
Read more about our UP Project
Read more about our Power to Change approach
Read more about our work to promote the voices and lived experience of our young people