The UK has seen a rapid increase in serious youth violence in recent years. Knife crime has risen by 25% since 2016. Victims of knife crime are getting younger, with just over a third of homicide victims in London aged 16 to 24 in 2018.
The reasons behind this increase are multiple and complex, including undiagnosed and untreated trauma, lack of focus on early intervention, reduction in youth services and social inequality. Youth violence must be treated as a public health issue – as a disease – not simply as a criminal justice issue. Only a holistic approach can tackle the inter-related systemic root issues and protect the lives of our children and young people. As a society, we all have a role to play.
Power The Fight is a unique movement, launched in 2019, working both at grassroots level (for example with families, faith groups and schools) and with the highest levels of policy decision makers (such as the Mayor of London’s Violence Reduction Unit, the cross-party Youth Violence Commission and The Church of England). We aim to act as a lever, initiating far-reaching change and empowering communities to end youth violence.
Power the Fight was founded by Ben Lindsay, building on his nearly two decades of experience working with local authorities and communities. In 2016, following the murder of teenager Myron Yarde, Ben started gathering people to reflect, pray and create a space for dialogue. Policy makers, police, youth workers, clergy and parents joined together, collectively inspiring the beginnings of Power The Fight, with the conviction that faith groups and community groups, often with their own buildings, resources and volunteers, have a unique contribution to make.
Power The Fight works with families, faith groups, community organisations and statutory agencies, equipping and training them to engage with youth violence issues in their context, as well as engaging with high level decision makers to influence policy. Our work is trauma informed and is co-designed with the community.
We have four strategic areas of work:
1. Educate - training programmes, workshops and conferences. Power The Fight has unique access to leading thinkers and practitioners from a range of disciplines working in the field of youth violence who partner with us to deliver a range of tailored training opportunities. We have already seen unprecedented demand for our training from partners such as London Borough Councils, the Church of England and the NHS. Since our launch in January 2019 we have trained 2400 people across the UK including conferences, workshops and bespoke training events.
2. Equip - developing resources. Power The Fight has developed resources to help community groups to better understand the issues surrounding youth violence. These include specialist PowerTalks accessed via our website as well as links to other toolkits. Season 1 of PowerTalks has had 2250 views online. Season 2 launched in Autumn 2019.
3. Enable - building connections and influencing societal change – Power The Fight is effecting wider societal and cultural change through our wealth of relationships across local and central Government, church denominations and youth service providers, including the Church of England London Dioceses, MPs, the Baptist Union and the Metropolitan Police. We are able to bring grassroots community and faith groups together with high level decision makers to improve cohesion and catalyse change, supporting communities to build innovative, sustainable, locally-owned projects that promote peace and end youth violence.
4. Engage - supporting families impacted by youth violence. Power The Fight supports families to access the best and most relevant therapeutic, financial and legal support in the aftermath of critical incidents. We have supported six London-based families so far.
Within the next two years, Power The Fight aims to provide our specialist training free of charge to a minimum of 50 non-statutory groups annually (an estimated 5000 people), in recognition of the vital role these organisations play in sustainable transformation at community level, reaching many thousands of young people across the UK. Each event currently costs £500 - £1000 depending on numbers, venue and context.
We aim to support a range of initiatives directly providing safe spaces, long-term interventions and quality services for a minimum of 2000 high-risk young people, partnering with 20 churches/community centres and 5 schools across London. Power The Fight will consult on these initiatives at no cost to our partners.
We aim to continue to engage with a range of policy decision makers and leaders at national level to influence systemic change, including leaders of church denominations, local government, Members of Parliament, the Metropolitan Police, and the London Mayor’s Office.
We aim to deliver therapeutic and practical support for 10 families directly affected by youth violence in at least two London boroughs. This will include support towards funeral and/or legal costs, and co-designed, culturally competent therapy working with Clinical Psychologists and a Family Worker.
In order to achieve this vision Power The Fight needs to raise £100,000 by the end of 2020.
Would you be able to partner with us?
Together we can power the fight to end youth violence.