A CALL HAS gone out to businesses to support a safety education charity’s campaign against knife crime following a triple stabling in Milton Keynes.
One man was left hospitalised after the attack, a stark reminder for the need for lifesaving knife crime education for children and young people, says Milton Keynes-based safety education charity The Safety Centre.
Now it is appealing to employers, funders and organisations to fund its knife crime education workshops teaching young people about the dangers and life-changing consequences of being involved in knife crime.
The Safety Centre’s chief executive Maya Joseph-Hussain said: “The shocking news of these horrific attacks in our home town of Milton Keynes makes it clear – we urgently need funding for our early intervention knife crime education work now.”
The centre’s education workshops create safe spaces to speak with young people in an age-appropriate way to dispel myths and common misconceptions about carrying weapons and being involved in knife crime, she said. “There is no safe way to use, carry or participate in knife crime. Knives destroy lives for victims and perpetrators. We need funding for our knife crime workshops now to give children and young people the tools they need to make safe choices in the future.”
The workshops, aimed at children aged nine and over, are delivered in schools across the region and The Safety Centre hopes to roll out the programme nationwide. Sessions have been delivered to 14,500 students in the past two years but the centre says early intervention work must continue to help students make safe choices, reducing the impact of crime and vulnerability.
Speaking earlier this year at an event hosted by the centre, Dr Stuart Lawrence, the younger brother of Stephen Lawrence said ‘Early intervention is so important. Education can be the most powerful tool in the world and the earlier we can give people the tools to be safe, the more it helps.”
Find out more about how businesses can help. Contact sarah@safetycentre.co.uk or donate online at localgiving.org/charity/safetycentre.
