Youth workers taking knives off the streets
We’re bridging the gap between communities.
That is the message from Breaking Barriers Building Bridges, who are living up to their name by showing young people in Nottingham that anything is possible.
The detached youth work team have been out working on the streets of Hyson Green for the past nine months, identifying issues ranging from knife crime to a lack of willingness to engage with support services.
The Nottingham-based charity, who are part funded by the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner for Nottinghamshire, have recently stepped up their efforts to make everybody feel they have somewhere to turn by recruiting a multilingual woman to help build relationships with non-English speaking youngsters in the area.
Cristina Anisoara is a Romanian woman who lives in Hyson Green, and speaks several languages including Catalan and German as well as English.
This enables her to spend time explaining the danger of carrying knives to young people on the streets who usually find it difficult to open up, as well as supporting families who may not even know that they can ring 999 for emergency help.
The work to build trust and confidence in Hyson Green has culminated in knives being handed in to Breaking Barriers Building Bridges and subsequently disposed of in amnesty bins at local police stations.
Cristina, who was speaking as part of Sceptre, a week-long national campaign against knife crime, said: “This area has been identified as one which lacks communication, so I’d like to think in my role I have helped to improve that.
“We’re breaking the stigma that youngsters can’t trust anyone. We’re all pushing for the same unity so they don’t need to be scared.
“The key message to get across is that knife crime is not the answer. I’ve explained what can happen if you take one out, and the message seems to land better coming from me.”
Breaking Barriers Building Bridges spend three nights a week out on the streets, with four-hour shifts designated to ensuring young people are safe and feel safe in the area they live in.
The detached youth work outreach programme – funded by the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner via the Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Violence Reduction Partnership - recognises that some young people don’t access traditional youth clubs – so instead it sends trained professionals to go out to meet young people in their own neighbourhoods.
The aim is to talk to young people, signpost them to local youth services and, where appropriate, refer them into social care, or to drug and alcohol services – taking a public health approach to safeguarding them and reducing the risk of them engaging in violent crime.
Maxine Cockett, CEO of Breaking Barriers Building Bridges, said: “It’s taken a long time to see the changes here given the complex needs we found, but we are now seeing the communities merging together.
“When we first came here, we came across a lot of people who didn’t speak much English and were suspicious of what we were doing, however since Cristina came in that has improved a lot.
“She can tell them what we do and that we’re here to make things easier for them. It’s enabled us to tell everybody how dangerous it is carrying knives.
“We’ve built trust up that much that young people are now handing knives into us, and we can then dispose of them at police stations.”
The innovative concept is being led by the Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Violence Reduction Partnership and was launched in April 2023 in areas of Nottingham where local partners at Nottinghamshire Police and Nottingham City Council believe it may have an impact.
The Violence Reduction Partnership is Home Office funded and is responsible for the strategic leadership and coordination of activity across the City and County to reduce and prevent serious violence using a public health approach. The VRP team is a function of the Nottinghamshire Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner.
Nottinghamshire Police and Crime Commissioner, and Chair of the Violence Reduction Partnership, Gary Godden, said: “Taking knives of the streets of Nottingham is crucial to keeping our communities safe.
“The message is clear. Carrying a knife does not protect you, it only increases the risk of devastating consequences for you and others.
“Our detached youth outreach programme is really unique in the way it recognises that there is no one-size-fits all approach to tackling issues on our streets.
“Recruiting Cristina has been integral for Breaking Barriers Building Bridges and their work to continue breaking down barriers for communities who might have previously felt they had nowhere to turn.
“Different people engage in different ways and this project shows we are trying to meet the diverse needs of young people across Nottingham.”
Bashir, a shop owner and father of two who lives in the area, was full of praise for the work done to prevent young people from carrying knives.
He said: “I used spend a lot of time on the streets with my friends and grew up doing wrong things, but we need more people like Maxine and Breaking Barriers Building Bridges to provide activities which save children from going down the wrong path.
“It’s important that anybody carrying a knife understands that you’re not only ruining your own life, but there is a risk of ruining several others.
“Being part of a gang makes people feel like they belong, but now children are being shown that there are alternative routes to follow.”
Breaking Barriers Building Bridges have now moved into the Arnold area after the success of their work in Radford.
They are one of three youth outreach teams doing such work, with Base 51 and Al-Hurraya also doing their best to make the streets of Nottingham safer.
Chief Inspector Karl Thomas, Nottinghamshire Police’s knife crime lead, said: “Education has always been and will continue to be the best tool available to us in helping tackle knife crime.
“While we’re committed as a force to taking weapons off the streets, the key thing is to stop people picking them up in the first place.
“Community groups like Breaking Barriers Building Bridges do such a good job engaging with young people who might not typically listen to the police.
“Hearing them talk about the dangers and consequences of knife-carrying could lead to a young person deciding to make a different life choice, which is hugely invaluable.
“This is just one example of the fantastic work being conducted by our partners within our communities to make Nottinghamshire a better, safer place to live.”