Earlier this year we partnered up with Street Doctors and Redthread with the support of The Better Community Business Network (BCBN) to support young people at three high risk transition points in their lives. We’re now launching on a 12 month project (called Exclusion to Empowerment) where each partner commits to diverting young people away from crime and violence in their community.
Our project has three key aims:
- Increase young people’s self-confidence and personal resilience
- Prevent young people from becoming involved in violence and crime, and prevent re-injury and re-offending
- Disrupt the cycle of violence and crime and help young people to fulfil their true potential
Thanks, in part, to the mainstream media coverage of violence amongst young people, particularly in our cities, current momentum amongst key decision makers is high. An All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Knife Crime and a Home Office Taskforce have been established. Growing acknowledgement of the complexities of youth violence and increased appetite for genuine meaningful action and holistic provides a ripe opportunity for Khulisa, StreetDoctors and Redthread to share expertise and influence systems change.
To support the new partnership, BCBN hosted a fundraising Gala on Monday 10 September 2018 with keynote speaker, Rt Hon Jeremy Corbyn MP. Over 600 guests attended and the event raised a fantastic £205,000! You can watch a short video of the Gala, here.
"As MP for an inner-city community, I applaud BCBN and its partner charities, who are taking a holistic approach to combatting knife crime and youth violence, supporting young people in their life journey and helping create a safer society." Leader of the Labour Party, Rt Hon Jeremy Corbyn MP
Khulisa will use the funding to support our ‘Face It‘ programme, a programme specifically designed for children aged 11-18 who are excluded (or at risk of exclusion from school). One full programme last 3 months and it is delivered through a combination of group and 1-1 activities, with cohorts of up to 12 young people in each programme. ‘Face It’ is facilitated by two of Khulisa’s highly qualified art or drama therapists and aims to help young people to develop their social and emotional wellbeing (i.e. their ability to build and sustain positive relationships, their emotional resilience and coping skills, their self-confidence, self efficacy and motivation), and to engage with their education; securing qualifications they need to successful move onto the next phase of their life: employment or further study.
"Khulisa is delighted to have the support of BCBN to scale our work that is proven to reduce offending, violence and victimisation amongst young people in London. BCBN plays such an important role convening the business community. Alongside our outstanding partners, this year we are pleased to shine a collective light on tackling youth violence and offending and Khulisa's 'early intervention' programmes that develop young people's essential life skills as a foundation for a productive, healthy and crime-free future. On behalf of all the young people we support, we'd like to give our heartfelt thanks for you generous support and believe in their potential, and ours!” Dominique Airey, Chief Executive of Khulisa