S T E P H E N L AW R E N C E D AY

C O M M U N I T I E S E V A L U A T I O N

STEPHENLAWRENCE

DAY

C O M MU NI T Y S O C I A L AC T I O N

22 APRIL

#LiveOurBestLife

3

A B O U T S T E P H E N L AW R E N C E D AY

Stephen Lawrence Day is a day of celebration of Stephen’s life and legacy and was announced by Theresa May at the 25th anniversary memorial service in 2018. The key purpose of the day is about recognising the part we all play in creating a society in which everyone can flourish. It is an opportunity for children and young people to have their voices heard, make the changes they’d like to see and build a society that treats everyone with fairness and respect.

Through Stephen Lawrence Day, we want young people to learn about Stephen’s story and be inspired about what they can achieve in their own lives. We want them to get involved in creating the kind of community they want to live in, and we want them to have a strong voice in building a fairer and more inclusive society.

‘Stephen’s story is both challenging and inspirational. I wish for Stephen’s name not to be identified just by his murder but by the mark he has left on this country and the wider world and for the role model he was and continues to be’

–Baroness Lawrence of Clarendon OBE

The objectives of Stephen Lawrence Day are to:

Inspire and support children and young people to make choices and actions that enable them and others to live their best lives

· Encourage and enable children and young people to play an active role in building stronger communities in which everyone can flourish

· Give children and young people a strong voice in driving social change and creating a society that treats everyone with fairness and respect

The day is coordinated by the Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust, which was founded by Stephen’s mother, Baroness Lawrence. The Trust works to inspire and support grassroots community groups and young people from disadvantaged backgrounds to create a fairer society.

5

In 2019, Stephen Lawrence Day was focused on two main pieces of work: a schools’ strand, and a community strand. The Schools strand involved a suite of age-appropriate resources for Early Years groups through to Key Stage 5 and Post-16 including assemblies, philosophy lesson plans and additional activities. These resources were downloadable through The Stephen Lawrence Day website, and an information booklet about Stephen Lawrence Day was sent to 27,000 schools across England.

Resources were also created and made available on our website for the community groups we engaged with as part of Stephen Lawrence Day. Additionally, the Trust ran a Small Grants scheme for grassroots community groups doing fantastic work across the country, and began an ongoing and incredibly successful partnership with the Volunteer Police Cadets.

The following booklet will go into more detail about the Communities strand of work, and showcase some of the amazing things that the inaugural Stephen Lawrence Day achieved.

Thank you to everyone who got involved and helped to make the first Stephen Lawrence Day such a success, with a special thanks to the Home Office, Department of Education and National Lottery Community Fund for their generous support.#LiveOurBestLife #BecauseOfStephen #StephenLawrenceDay

4

Photo - African Smile, Greenwich, London, delivered a range of activities helping with career advice and relevant skills.

Photo - It’s Your Life held a week long project in London.

Photo - Ameina Centre, London

6

S T E P H E N L AW R E N C E D AY C O M M U N I T Y O V E R V I E W

Theresa May said that Stephen Lawrence Day “will be an opportunity for young people to use their voices and should be embedded in our education and wider system regardless of the government of the day.” She went on to say, “We will use this day to encourage and support young people in achieving their dreams, and to reflect on Stephen’s life, death and the positive change he has inspired.”At the Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust, we believe that when communities make decisions about their shared priorities, and work together to achieve them, we not only create better places for people to live and work, but a fairer and more equal society.

Working alongside the Home office and with local groups and communities, we wanted grass root groups to come together to deliver Stephen Lawrence Day activities and events that had the potential to deliver positive change for young people in line with Theresa May’s speech.

This included:

• Galvanising communities including young people to help stop serious crime and violence

• Supporting Home Office ambitions to prevent crime and intervening early with those at risk of engaging in criminality

• School-led based activities based on Stephen’s story and associated messages on community integration

• Encouraging young people to get involved with or influence local policing through working with the Volunteer Police Cadets

• Encouraging community groups and the people who lead them to share what is important to them and make positive changes to improve things for their local communities and young people across the country.

At the core of all the communities strand of activities was a commitment to social action. We supported individuals and groups to solve problems that are important in their local area, focusing on the following themes which have emerged from Stephen’s story:

· Diversity and Identity · Racism and Institutional Racism · Democracy and Justice

Our Community Project Objectives:

• Create a long list of 30 recommended community groups as potential organisations to award Small Grant funding

• Small Grant scheme to provide funding for grass-root community projects to deliver crescendo day activity to take place on or around the 22nd April 2019

• To engage with 10 community groups across urban and coastal areas (London, Manchester and Hastings) in year 1

• Use the power of young people’s influence on each other to deliver a learning resource in partnership with the Volunteer Police Cadets

• Normalise best practice via Stephen Lawrence Day website by showcasing inspirational examples of community work

• Recognising and rewarding achievements to highlight good examples of local leadership and strong community practice.

The Python Club, Nottingham7

98

C O M M U N I T Y A C H I E V E M E N T S

87% of community groups engaged with Stephen Lawrence Day via social media

27 succesfuly funded Community Projects through Small Grant scheme

Social Action Projects delivered across the country

All funded community groups found our resources ‘Very Useful’

Applications for Small Grants funding60

22 Funding Application Support Surgeries

Social Action Workbook for young people - downloadable on the Stephen Lawrence Day Website

14

On-going Social Action Projects

500 young people reached through partnership with the Volunteer Police Cadets

6 community groups received match-funding for their projects

Year long funded community project through the Small Grant scheme

77 community groups across the country held an event to mark the day

Projects took place across every region in England

14 police forces delivered an event/activity for Stephen Lawrence Day

26 hours of training for community leaders who delivered Stephen Lawrence Day activities

4000 young people reached across the country

4 Community Toolkits focused on Capacity Building for grass root groups

Community organisations made directly aware of Stephen Lawrence Day

3£

34 Case Studies and Testimonials 4

221

1110

C O M M U N I T Y P R O J E C T S R E A C H

A huge amount of effort went into engaging with schools and community groups by more traditional means for example through post, email, word-of-mouth engagement and via voluntary and community sector umbrella organisations. We also worked to make it easy for these groups to promote what they were doing for Stephen Lawrence Day. This was reflected in the many groups and schools who posted to social media about what they were doing, helping to build grassroots engagement.

The map on the next page shows our reach across the UK for the inaugural day.

Funded community projects through the Small Grants project

27 3

14 14

77

Year-round funded projects through the Small Grants

scheme

Social Action Projects delivered with Volunteer Police Cadets

Police forces delivered an event/activity for Stephen Lawrence Day

Community groups across the country held an event

to mark the day

ManchesterLiverpool

Nottingham

Leicester

ENGLAND

CambridgeIpswich

Swindon

Oxford

ReadingSwansea

WALES

Cardi� Bristol

Bath

BournemouthSouthampton Brighton

PlymouthNewquay

Middlesbrough

York

Hull

London

Edinburgh

Glasgow

Isle of Man

Aberdeen

Inverness

SCOTLAND

UNITED KINGDOM

Dundee

Leeds

Nottingham

Peterborough

Southend-on-SeaCanterbury

Colchester

Norwich

Bath

Blackpool

Manchester

1312

S T E P H E N L AW R E N C E D AY:G U I D I N G P R I N C I P L E S

Four key sub-themes underpinned the focus for communities as set out in the table below and acted as the guiding principles for the day.

26 Leake Street, London

Living in Diverse SocietiesHope from Tragedy: A creative and powerful legacy

Living Our Best Life: What does it mean and look like?

Democracy and Justice

It’s important to understand and respect your own and other cultural identities, backgrounds and local communities.

We will encourage communities to work together to create a culture where each individual is respected and valued, leading to a decrease in crime and violence.

We will facilitate collaboration between communities and mainstream services and promote action for positive change – contributing positively to British society.

The Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust was founded on the premise that inequality must be tackled in all its forms. This includes inequality of access, and of opportunity, wherever it occurs.

We are working with the Volunteer Police Cadets and other Youth-Led organisations to encourage more young people to make a positive impact on their community, using the power of young people’s influence on one another to encourage social integration.

We want young people to be involved in decision making both locally and nationally.

We will strive for a more inclusive society building bridged between communities and young people.

We will enable young people to make their voices heard within local communities and increase the capability of communities to take action on the issues that matter to them.

We will build on the efforts of Stephen’s family and their tireless pursuit of justice to create safer communities.

We will enable young people to use their voice for creating positive change within their community.

We will empower groups within the community to effectively deliver early action in the prevention of crime and serious violence.

14

Through Stephen Lawrence Day, we wanted to build stronger communities and enable citizens to engage peacefully and effectively with others to create fairer and more resilient societies. We supported the sustainable development of community groups by building their knowledge, facilitating collaboration and raising awareness on issues that they prioritise. Some of the priorities that have emerged include Serious Crime and Violence, and we engaged with community groups addressing these issues.

We recognise that the way society is structured often results in the exclusion of certain people, groups and communities. Our Stephen Lawrence Day projects focused on ensuring that the young individuals and groups at risk of being marginalised and engaging in criminality and felt empowered to play their part as active citizens.

Through a mix of activities on and around the inaugural day, we successfully:

• Created a pipeline of community leaders by exploring with young people the impact they can have on their communities and giving them the skills and confidence to become the community leaders of the future

• Supported community groups to maximise their impact individually and in collaboration, by helping them to develop their skills and infrastructure and providing resources for tackling shared local priorities and challenges

• Provided real-life examples of how society can respond to community challenges by encouraging communities to take part in social action and showcase how to handle these issues

• Upskilled community leaders to address the specific challenges associated with leading community groups that support young people to integrate into their local community

• Gained a better understanding of types of effective early intervention projects that prevents those at risk of engaging in criminality through our community approach.

In addition to our activities, we developed a range of downloadable capacity building resources to support community groups in developing their infrastructure and ways of working in order to maximise their impact, including a Social Media Toolkit, Communication Toolkit, Fundraising Toolkit and Partner Pack.

You can see our resources on our website: www.stephenlawrenceday.org

S M A L L G R A N T F U N D R A I S I N G

We know that one of the quickest ways to have a positive impact on our local communities is to fund organisations that are already doing great work and helping them to achieve more. Our Community Projects Small Grant funding awarded grants of up to £4,000 to enable not-for-profit organisations to act on issues that matter to them aligning with the Home Offices policy areas including Serious Crime and Violence and early intervention.

The Small- Grants funding, supported by the Home Office, was offered to community groups in urban and coastal areas delivering activities which focused on risk factors identified in the 2018 Home Office Serious Crime and Violence Strategy (p.g 16) and aligned with the Stephen Lawrence Day Communities Guiding Principles (p.g 13). Our initial objective was to target urban/coastal areas including London, Manchester and Hastings but in reality we exceeded expectations, reaching every region across England. Our grant guidelines were developed in conjunction with local grassroot groups in Lewisham to ensure they were accessible to our target community groups.

We engaged with 221 voluntary umbrella organisations across the country to ensure that grassroot community groups could access the funding and hosted a number of application feedback workshops at both the Stephen Lawrence Centre and via telephone to ensure groups felt supported through the application process. In total, 22 organisations received support with their application to apply for funding. 6 Organisations secured match funding for their projects including funding from the Arts Council and Wakenham Trust.

The opportunities available to community groups through Stephen Lawrence Day were promoted widely to audiences as diverse as the demography of the UK itself. We will continue to work with our partners in Local Authorities and local Infrastructure organisations to reach out to grassroot groups of micro and small local communities that typically don’t engage with mainstream services.

15

I D E N T I F I E D R I S K FA C T O R S : S E R I O U S C R I M E & V I O L E N C E

Risk factors

SchoolFamily CommunityIndividual Peer group

IRIE! dance theatre company, working in the field of African/Caribbean Dance, education and local communities by delivering an open event for young people in the local community

Nottinghamshire, Volunteer Police Cadets held a community activities day.

Serious Violence Strategy, 2018, Home Office

16 17

• Childhood abuse and neglect

• Impulsivity (low self control)

• Aggression

• Low intelligence

• Substance use

• Positive attitude towards offending

• Involved in anti- social behaviour

• Previously commited offences

• Low self esteem

• Gang membership • Head injury

• Family socioeconomic status

• Anti-social parents (including substance abuse)

• Poor supervision

• Parental criminality

• Low schools performance

• Bullying others

• Truancy and school exlusion

• Urban areas

• High crime

• Local deprivation

• Delinquent peers

1918

Skool of Street, Blackpool, delivered an MC & spoken word project that was suitable for all young people.

F U N D E D A C T I V I T I E S S C O P E

Our application guidelines were designed in conjunction with local grass root community groups to ensure it was accessible and fit for purpose.

Activities Scope and Focus

Young people from the most disadvantaged and vulnerable backgrounds

Urban/inner city or coastal areas where there is clear evidence of deprivation which impacts young people and local communities

Funded activities needed to demonstrate one of the following:

A strong understanding of target beneficiaries and the challenges facing young people in the local community

A unique and fresh approach to engaging the target beneficiaries and to addressing the issue of youth crime and serious violence

We developed a number of practical toolkits for communities on Capacity Building, Communication, PR and Social Media and Fundraising which are downloadable on our website: www.stephenlawrenceday.org

All community groups received a Stephen Lawrence Day Communities Booklet and resources

100% rated the materials ‘Very Useful’

90% of community groups visited the Stephen Lawrence Day website and downloaded resources

100% rated the Stephen Lawrence Day website ‘Very Useful’.

S M A L L G R A N T S S C H E M E

The Small Grant funding initiative received over 60 applications, and awarded 27 small grants for community groups to deliver activities aimed at inspiring and supporting young people to make positive choices and act in ways that enabled them and those in their local community to ‘live their best life’.

Activities took place across the country, from spoken word events and drama workshops, to ‘come dine with us’ afternoons, our community projects allowed groups to act on issues that mattered to them.

Focusing on the overarching theme Live Our Best Life, the grants supported local community groups to plan and organise activities for young people on and around the 22nd April.

20

We worked with community groups whose work focused on any one or more of the following areas:

Young people from BAME communities

Young people affected by and seeking to turn away from serious crime and violence

Young people with disabilities

Girls affiliated with or affected by gangs

Education, training and employability

Community integration and social mixing

Read on to explore some case studies from the groups that we funded, and the impact that their activities have had on the young people they work with.

Takeover Radio: To mark Stephen Lawrence Day, they aired an informative and engaging show with pre-recorded radio features around the theme of ‘Live Your Best Life’ broadcasted throughout the day.

# L I V E O U R B E S T L I F E

Ipswich and Suffolk Council for Racial Equality (ISCRE), Ipswich

ISCRE runs culturally informed interventions to support individuals and organisations to understand inequality in a variety of fields to help eliminate discrimination. To mark Stephen Lawrence Day, ISCRE held an event at a high school in Ipswich to engage students in open discussions about what makes a fairer society.

When asked what ‘Live Our Best Life’ meant to them, the young people involved in the workshop said “To try as much as I can to do things I like and make choices for myself”.

Magic Touch Network, Dudley

Magic Touch Network provides information, research, advocacy and advice to women and young people from ethnic minority backgrounds. To mark Stephen Lawrence Day, Magic Touch Network delivered a day of information and awareness-raising activities.

After the sessions, young people were made aware of both Stephen’s story and the Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust. They came out feeling passionate about his case, and the need for change. The group agreed that ‘Live Your Best Life’ meant being respectful and free to live how you choose to, regardless of your background, race, sex, or economic status, as well as the importance of a strong community.

21

2322

T H E A M E I N A C E N T R E , L U T O N

The Ameina Centre is an educational and residential referral unit based in Luton. It provides vital support to pupils that have been excluded or are at risk of exclusion, as well as providing a range of support to young people and adults.

To mark Stephen Lawrence Day, they held a workshop and interactive session and presentation with children and young people, hosted and facilitated by the Bedfordshire Police and the Youth Offending Team in Luton, with the aim of encouraging them to examine and challenge their own ideas about crime and antisocial behaviour.

The workshop began with the story of Stephen Lawrence, and the change to the British justice system his case brought about. The workshop focused on the importance of taking control of your own life and taking positive action, e.g. through a social action project, as well as the importance of staying away from crime, which is a major issue in Luton.

The Centre hoped young people would feel educated and more informed on the range of issues in Luton and the consequences of being involved in crime. They also hoped they would reflect on the themes around Stephen Lawrence Day, such as inclusivity.

The Centre advertised the workshop to young people in their unit with leaflets and received responses from individuals keen to learn about Stephen Lawrence’s story.

The project successfully raised awareness among the young people in attendance about weapons, gangs and knife crime, recognising risky situations, and understanding the law around these issues.

“I enjoyed the workshop and learnt about the consequences of crime. Through Stephen’s story I learnt about how death can affect a family and community, and the weakness of UK law.” - JJ, 16, attendee

To the Ameina Centre, the theme ‘Live Our Best Life’ is about bringing young people together to inspire them to make the right choices in their lives, and to stay away from negative influences or peers.

2524

B D S T R A I N I N G FA S H I O N S H O W , S K E L M E R S D A L E , L A N C A S H I R E

BDS Training is a trainee centre in Skelmersdale for young adults, specialising in Hair and Beauty.

BDS Training ran a workshop looking at different cultures in modern-day society. They wanted to give young people the chance to research, explore and celebrate a variety of cultures by producing outfits, hair and make up to present on a catwalk to their friends and family. BDS wanted their Stephen Lawrence Day event to encourage young people to embrace and celebrate their own cultures as well as others, and help them understand the importance of accepting each other’s differences.

The young people involved in the workshop already attended the centre as part of their studies, and were researching other cultures as part of an Equality and Diversity unit. The SL Day grant helped to give a focus to this research, with the students working towards the fashion show as a final showcase of what they had learned. The session consisted of poster making based on the research carried out, which was turned into a display, learning and practicing the art of henna tattoos, using face paints and make up, hair styling and costume making. The headline event of the day was the catwalk, which parents and carers came along to, and a lunch to celebrate all the participants’ achievements.

The group also created a diagram explaining what the theme ‘Live Our Best Life’ meant to them. Here are some examples of what they thought:

‘Don’t succumb to peer pressure, stay away from risks such as drugs and alcohol, stay away from bad crowds and talk to people if we need help.’

‘To stand up for what we believe and what we feel we deserve and never settle for anything less.’

‘Push ourselves no matter how hard things get, always carry on and move forward. In turn to build a better world for others.’

‘To be kind to both ourselves and others around us, this makes us feel good about ourselves too.

The young people thoroughly enjoyed the project and learnt lots about different cultures, breaking down stereotypes, and the importance of diversity. Successes included teamwork amongst the young people, who worked well with those outside of their friendship circles and developed wider relationships. The show itself was a huge success, with proud parents watching from the side-lines.

Challenges included managing all of the activities over the few hours the activity went on for. If the group was to do this again, costumes would have been prepared earlier on in the week, and a rehearsal would have taken place.

C O L L E G E G R E E N S C H O O L & S E R V I C E S , LO N D O N

College Green School & Services held a Stephen Lawrence Day event at their nursery. The school aims to foster a learning atmosphere where all feel valued, aiming for equality for all and in all they do.

To mark Stephen Lawrence Day, they delivered a series of activities including a cooking experience where children tasted Caribbean food, and a patch work display made up of ceramic tiles which each child and staff member decorated based on what inspires them to live their best life. The day also involved a Rastamouse story workshop with a special visit from the author, Michael De Souza.

The purpose of the project was for Stephen’s story to show the importance of celebrating and valuing difference in the school’s community. The school wanted to take the children on a journey to explore a range of cultural activities built on love, respect and unity around the headline theme ‘Live Our Best Life’, applying this phrase to their daily lives.

The children first learnt about Stephen’s story, and the themes around Stephen Lawrence Day. This immediately captivated the children’s interest as they spoke about Stephen’s love of running, design, and the chance to try Stephen’s favourite food. They talked about their similarities and differences, including the different clothes they were going to wear on Stephen Lawrence Day.

On the 23rd, the nursery was transformed into different themes and areas, including a Jamaican Beach in the outdoor garden, under a range of Caribbean flags.

The children and staff came dressed in clothes that represented their unique cultures. The group was excited to see a grandmother proudly talking to their grandchild about where she came from, pointing to a Caribbean flag. There were also large architectural design activities, arts and crafts, and a well-received reading and rhyme workshop from the author of Rastamouse around similar themes to SL Day, specifically the importance of positivity

“I thought it was a lovely idea and great to open their eyes and minds to other children’s cultures and heritage. It hopefully means that they will be the ones to lead the way on teaching others that when it comes down to it, in many ways we are all the same, but we can also learn so much from each other’s differences. A great positive event.” - Parent

Throughout the day, the children gained an understanding of who Stephen Lawrence was, and in the weeks since the event have been referring to Stephen Lawrence and relating the day and its message to the things they like to do and play with. Rastamouse (Michael De Souza) was a highlight for the children, and due to their enthusiasm, he returned to College Green at a later date for a book signing. Families also ordered books from the author, helping them to give their children cultural exposure. The school also received a visit from Neville Lawrence to see all the amazing work the children had been doing.

http://webfronter.com/brent/cgnss/

26 27

I T ’ S YO U R L I F E , LO N D O N

It’s Your Life helps young people and their families to overcome marginalisation through their different programmes, providing vulnerable people with opportunities to learn skills to help lift them out of poverty and disadvantage.

Their week-long Stephen Lawrence Day project was made up of a number of sessions delivered to young people attending the ‘alternate provision’ and their parents. They all engaged in debates, watched the documentary, made posters and carried out research. There was a great level of engagement and lots of good questions were asked. The group hopes that the young people involved gained an understanding of Stephen’s story, how it changed the UK Justice System, and how it is still relevant today.

After the sessions, young people were made aware of both Stephen’s story and the Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust. They came out feeling passionate about his case, and the need for change. The group agreed that ‘Live Your Best Life’ meant being respectful and free to live how you choose to, regardless of your background, race, sex, or economic status, as well as the importance of a strong community.

‘Stephen’s story made me heartbroken but hopeful things can change.’ Aniqa, 14, attendee

www.itsyourlife.me.uk

S KO O L O F S T R E E T , B L A C K P O O L

Skool of Street work predominantly with urban art media to teach young people new skills and techniques, enabling them to feel empowered by their work and achievements through workshops.

To mark Stephen Lawrence Day, the Blackpool based arts charity ran a fantastic MC & Spoken Word project for young people, offering an inclusive opportunity for team building, developing social skills and increasing confidence and resilience.The community group created a safe space for young people to come and express their creativity and learn about the importance of Stephen’s story and being aware of the issues that very much still exist in society.

The group attracted young people to their event by contacting local schools and partners, as well as through a feature in the local press. The activity consisted of spoken word, writing workshops, and arts and crafts. The young people also created a song that currently has 8k views on YouTube in memory of Stephen.

‘I really enjoyed learning how to express myself through my words and performing my rap in memory of Stephen’ - Dylan, workshop attendee.

All participants channelled their creativity to create some amazing poems and artwork, and the community took the theme ‘Live Our Best Life’ to mean ‘Do what we love, respect each other and accept everyone as they are. Inspiration Beats Discrimination, Each one Teach one is our statement.’

https://www.skoolofstreet.com/

28 29

3130

IVO I N N O VAT I V E V I S I O N O R G A N I S AT I O N , I V O , LO N D O N

IVO is a charity that aims to relieve poverty amongst African and Caribbean Communities in the UK by providing education and information on sexual health, children and young people’s services, and cultural issues.

To mark Stephen Lawrence Day, they hosted an event in their community centre in Tottenham, showcasing dance by the young people they work with – an activity that has kept over 60 young people from Tottenham disciplined and busy – and providing networking opportunities for young people to prevent them from falling in with the wrong groups.

IVO hoped young people would be inspired by their SL Day event and Stephen’s story to live their best lives. They attracted young people to the project with help from their young volunteers who emailed, Instagrammed and tweeted out designed invitations. At the event, young people had the opportunity to play their favourite music including drumming, dance and eat a variety of food. Attendees also took time to self-reflect, think of their own personal goals and dreams and wrote them down:

“When I grow up I want to be ME” “I want to be a dancer”

“When I grow up I want to be a FOOTBALLER” “I want to be good in Maths”

“Live our best lives” means a lot to IVO and their community. Many of the young people who came to the event have been traumatised as a result of knife crime. http://www.ivouk.com/

T U R N I N G P O I N T S , D U D L E Y

Turning Points works to give young people the opportunity to engage and bond with each other and, in doing so, to help break down barriers between different groups in their communities who feel divided due to racial and religious tensions on both a national and global scale.To mark Stephen Lawrence Day, the community group delivered a day out for their young people, who chose to go to a theme park called Gulliver’s Kingdom. The outing enabled the young people to interact and participate in a whole day of activities together, including climbing, a picnic and rides.

The project encouraged social and cross-cultural mixing and positive action taking place at grass root levels, to help build young people’s confidence and improve their decision-making.

‘More should be done like this for young people to build their character and challenge discrimination.’ Rimsha, 18, attendee.

Turning Points understand ‘Live Your Best Life’, to mean every child having opportunities irrespective of their social, cultural, religious or economic backgrounds. It means to give every person the ability to have the same life opportunities as everyone else.’`

3332

S O C I A L S E N S E , M A N C H E S T E R

LO N G T E R M G R A N T F U N D I N G

It became clear to us that we will need to support our communities through cultural, emotional, and social education to create community activists who deliver true social change.

In order to achieve this, we are supporting the fantastic work of three groups – Eggtooth, Peer Power Youth and Social Sense – who are doing amazing work creating positive change for their local communities and the young people who live in them with a longer-term grant. We will work with these groups and their young people over the next year to showcase new models for how society can respond to community challenges by delivering year-round programmes, putting young people at the centre of driving social change.

EGGTOOTH PROJECT, HASTINGS

Eggtooth will create a short, high-impact film entitled To Sea or Not to See. It will feature local artists Luke AG and Lilly Cooper, who will devise and craft specific spoken word content that will offer questions, statements and clear honest facts highlighting the Guiding Principles of Stephen Law-rence Day (p.g 13)

To Sea or Not to See will then be screened in August 2019 at two transition Summer Schools. Eggtooth have been delivering Summer Schools at The Hastings Academy (THA) for the last 7 years and have been commissioned to also deliver at the St Leonards Academy (STLA) Summer School in 2019 as well.

www.eggtooth.org.uk

Social Sense will be delivering their “R U Different?” programme, initially created in 2011 to measurably tackle key myths around risk-taking attitudes, perceptions and behaviours. The programme collects data about what young people think about risky behaviours and what is actually true to disprove misconceptions people hold about how young people act. Social Sense have looked at many ‘risk-taking behaviours, including alcohol and drug use, smoking and under-age sex. They have achieved success by recording data directly from more than 150,000 young people in schools, before working in partnership with them to promote the statistically backed positive truth.

www.socialsense.co.uk

Peer Power’s ‘Peer to Professional’ project will enable its participants to become Peer Leaders, going on a journey of narrative therapy, storytell-ing and public speaking to develop their emotional literacy. Peer Leaders will also be encouraged to engage positively with other young people and use their own experiences to create manifestos for change in health and justice services, influencing policy and system change through engagement with agencies such as the Ministry of Justice, the Youth Justice Board, NHS England Parliamentari-ans, Youth Justice Services and the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime.

www.peerpower.org.uk

35

C O M M U N I T Y R E A C H

#BecauseOfStephen

There was a wide range of activities held in Stephen’s name, with many community groups and schools engaging with Baroness Lawrence’s call to action for everyone to be the best they can be, and to ‘live their best life’ and to make a pledge #BecauseOfStephen...

There was additionally a huge amount of support from all elements of the Police, including senior indi-vidual officers, regional police forces (e.g. Gwent Police, West Yorkshire Police), and groups within the police (e.g. Lancashire Black Police Association). We also worked closely with the national body of the Volunteer Police Cadets (VPC) and many of their local units, who all tweeted about their Stephen Law-rence Day activities throughout the 22nd following a Social Action Training Day hosted at the Stephen Lawrence Centre. This was well attended by representatives of Police forces across the UK, and led to a number of Volunteer Police Cadets units organising Social Action Projects in Stephen’s name to help those living in their local areas.

As a result of this success, we will host a number of these sessions at the Stephen Lawrence Centre in the coming year.

34

3736

S O C I A L A C T I O N I N PA R T N E R S H I P W I T H T H E V O L U N T E E R P O L I C E C A D E T S

The core purpose of the Stephen Lawrence Day Communities piece was to engage with young people and those that are delivering effective Social Action Projects that have the potential to create positive change for local communities, using Stephen’s story and its relevance to them and their lives to empower them to make a difference.

We are very proud to have worked with the Volunteer Police Cadets, who are the uniformed youth group of the UK police service, for the inaugural day. Together, we designed and developed 14 youth-led Social Action Projects to improve the lives of people living in their local communities, challenging negative perceptions to make a real difference.

The purpose of the VPC is not to recruit police officers of the future, but to encourage the spirit of adventure and good citizenship amongst its members. They believe that every young person deserves the opportunity to thrive regardless of their background and encourage young people from all backgrounds to join the VPC, including those who may be vulnerable to the influences of crime and social exclusion.

The Volunteer Police Cadet national youth outreach programme has the following aims and principles:

• Promote a practical understanding of policing amongst all young people

• Encourage the spirit of adventure and good citizenship

• Support local policing priorities through volunteering and give young people a chance to be heard

• Inspire young people to participate positively in their communities.

https://vpc.police.uk/

T E S T I M O N I A L F R O M T I M M A N N , V O L U N T E E R P O L I C E C A D E T S

I’ve been very proud to work hand in hand with the Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust (SLCT), representing the Volunteer Police Cadets (VPC) nationally. The VPC is committed to encouraging and supporting opportunity, empowerment and positive life-decisions for all our young people, wherever they come from and whatever their experiences. Our partnership with the Trust, founded on this shared commitment, has brought together VPCs from six police force areas to deliver positive youth-led social action projects in their communities, encouraging young people to make a real difference in their local areas.

Working with the Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust has been a hugely inspiring and positive experience. For the first Stephen Lawrence Day, we organised a VPC Leader’s training day at the Stephen Lawrence Centre in London, designed and presented by SLCT, including a detailed “how to” social action booklet looking at Stephen’s story through the eyes of young people in 2019. Leaders from the six police force regions took part in the training, and returned to their units full of energy and ideas.

On 22 April 2019, Volunteer Police Cadets from the Met (London), Nottinghamshire, Manchester, Birmingham, Surrey and Hampshire forces proudly took part in events and activities to commemorate the first Stephen Lawrence Day. We’ve learned and shared a lot, stimulating great responses and participation, and championing youth-led, youth-focused ideas. The first Stephen Lawrence Day has had real impact, positively influencing and empowering young people to make a better world #BecauseOfStephen.

We invited the Head of Programmes at the Trust to join our VPC group in Nottingham for their Stephen Lawrence Day activities, which involved building on the extensive grassroots foundations and strong links with the community that have already been forged between senior leaders, families, local policing teams and young people. We are very proud that a brand new VPC unit has been set up here for local teenagers and named after 17 year old Lyrico Steede, with his mother’s full blessing and consent. Lyrico was brutally murdered in 2018 by a group of teenagers in a pre-meditated attack, after a long-running feud. Those responsible are now serving substantial prison sentences.

In London, cadets hosted a central event at New Scotland Yard and in Lewisham, where the Trust is based. In Manchester, Hampshire and Surrey, VPCs joined police colleagues, community groups and local people in a range of activities and events to celebrate Stephen’s legacy and mark a commitment towards building positive futures. As a former police officer, based in south London during the time of Stephen’s murder and the subsequent years and events, Stephen Lawrence Day is a hugely significant and important event for me, that reaches far beyond just one day or just one region. As a national VPC trainer and facilitator, it’s been brilliant working on this fantastic project with our friends at the Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust.

Page 38

3938

Leeds

ManchesterLiverpool

Blackpool

Nottingham

LeicesterPeterborough

ENGLAND

Cambridge

Norwich

Ipswich

Colchester

Swindon

Oxford

ReadingSwansea

WALES

Cardi­ Bristol

Bath

BournemouthSouthampton Brighton

PlymouthNewquay

Middlesbrough

York

Hull

CanterburySouthend-on-Sea

London

O U R J O I N T A P P R O A C H

From projects ‘beyond the school gate’ to intergenerational workshops, all Stephen Lawrence Day activities encouraged young people to take part in positive action in their local community. The map on the next page highlights areas of reach for cadet groups that took part in Social Action Projects for Stephen Lawrence Day. Areas include Salford, Stockport, Nottingham, the West Midlands, Catford, Tower Hamlets, Southwark, Sutton, Waltham Forest, Hampshire, Torbay, Staffordshire, Northamptonshire and Surrey.

Our Social Action Training, delivered at the Stephen Lawrence Centre, was attended by Cadet Leaders from across the country, including representatives from Manchester, Hampshire, Nottingham, Surrey and London. The training was supported by a social action booklet which anyone enthusiastic about starting their own project can use to help them identify a local issue they want to address and think through how to tackle it (this booklet is also available to download on our website). The resources in the booklet have supported over 500 young people to bring their ideas to life, following a simple step-by-step process to design a community Social Action Project.

Volunteer Police Cadets, Manchester

S O C I A L A C T I O N R E A C H

This map highlights areas of reach for cadet groups that took part in Social Action Projects for Stephen Lawrence Day

40 41

S O C I A L A C T I O N P R O J E C T S

We are very proud to have worked with the Volunteer Police Cadets. Together, we designed and developed 14 youth-led Social Action Projects to the lives of people living in their local communities, challenging negative perceptions to make a real difference. Here are just a few examples of what the Cadets got up to for Stephen Lawrence Day.

Photo - Nottinghamshire, Volunteer Police Cadets

LO N D O N

The Metropolitan Police VPCs held an event at New Scotland Yard, where cadets from Tower Hamlets, Southwark, Sutton and Waltham Forest created long-term Social Action Projects in their local community. They designed their projects to focus on issues that affect young people, and presented their ideas to a panel of senior officers.

N O T T I N G H A M S H I R E

The Volunteer Police Cadets held an event on the 27th April at Bulwell Academy to mark Stephen Lawrence Day. Multiple speakers, including the Trust’s Head of Programmes, came to speak to young people about the importance of being socially active citizens and building stronger, safer communities. Young people also had the opportunity to get involved in a number of activities, including sports, crafts and trying Caribbean food, as well as watching the music and dance entertainment. The event was well attended by the local community and broadcast on ITV local news.

42

H O L LY R E A D , H E A D C A D E T F O R T H E S U R R E Y V P C ’ S R U N N Y M E D E U N I T , D E S C R I B E S W H AT S H E

D I D F O R S T E P H E N L AW R E N C E D AY:

“To start the day off, we learnt all about Stephen Lawrence’s story and the mistreatment his family received. We were then split into groups and given a choice of three topics to teach our local community about: Diversity and Identity, Racism and Institutional Racism, and Democracy and Justice. My group chose Democracy and Justice. Once we had decided this, we began to learn about democracy, justice, our rights as young people and the criminal justice system and thought about the best way we could pass on our learning about their importance to our community.

“Our group came up with the idea of hosting a workshop where we would teach secondary school children all about their rights, what we mean by democracy and justice, and the way that the criminal justice system works. To teach them about the criminal justice system, we thought it would be a good idea to invite various people who worked within it (for example the police and the Crown Prosecution Service) to the workshop so that they could speak in more detail about their roles and the different procedures. We would then get them to work through a scenario that people involved in the criminal justice system would go through with the children keeping in mind the key topic. We thought this would be good to teach to Year 7s and then do a refresher for Year 11s just after their GCSEs are finished.

“One of the ideas that the other groups came up with was to bring together people from different faiths to go on days out, for example to a fair, letting people from various cultures know that the police is a welcoming organisation.

“From this day I will take away that we can all learn from history and start making positive changes now. Through the Surrey VPC celebrating Stephen Lawrence Day in the future, we are helping to bridge the gap between the police and different communities to make society more inclusive and accepting. By working together, it is hoped we can live more effectively together.” - Holly Read, Head Cadet for Surrey VPC

43

44

C O M M U N I T Y L E A D E R S

Community leaders agreed that the Stephen Lawrence Day project supported young people in relation to the following:

· Raising young people’s aspirations

· Developing young people’s understanding of how to stand up to racism and discrimination in all forms

· Engaging young people in discussions relating to issues such as knife crime, gangs and/or County Lines

· Working with communities so they work with you to promote and support the development of respect and care for all

· Promoting young people’s voices and engagement, particularly in tackling racism and discrimination of all forms

100%

• Developing young people’s ability to respond on issues that matter to them within their community

• Engaging with young people to make their voices heard within their local community and increase the capability of communities to take positive action

• Deliver effective social action projects

O U R A C H I E V E M E N T S W I T H V O L U N T E E R P O L I C E C A D E T S

• Of Volunteer Police Cadet Leaders agreed that the Stephen Lawrence Day project supported young people in relation to the following:

45

T H E V I R G I N M O N E Y LO N D O N M A R AT H O N

In celebration of Stephen Lawrence Day, the mile 18 marker in the 2019 Virgin Money London Marathon was designed by three aspiring young architects who won a competition organised by the Trust and London Marathon Events Ltd. Their design concept, entitled ‘Because of Stephen we can’, comprised of an original sound piece made up of audio quotes from the Trust’s beneficiaries, partners and supporters so as to inspire both runners and spectators alike, some of which were also transcribed on brightly coloured panels. The competition to design the marker reflected Stephen’s own aspiration to pursue a career in architecture, as well as his love of running.

46

J A M E S A L L E N G I R L S S C H O O L , LO N D O N

James Allen Girls School in south London held an entire Stephen Lawrence week, jam-packed with different activities. From tailored lessons inspired by Stephen’s life and legacy and a beautiful art installation at the school’s entrance, to in-depth assemblies about his story and how to ‘live their best lives’ led by year 13 students as well as Stuart Lawrence, JAGS was very busy celebrating Stephen Lawrence Day.

The school library created two fantastic displays – one focused on architecture, as Stephen was an aspiring architect, and one on books which celebrate diversity. Students also marked the day by wearing orange, and even ‘walked a mile for Stephen’ alongside staff one lunchtime, a reflection of Stephen’s love of running. These very simple things were extremely effective, and got the whole school involved in the day.

47

48

T H E P R I N C E S T R U S T

The Prince’s Trust also hosted an event, which brought young people together to think about what it meant to them to ‘Live Our Best Life’. They shared their stories and discussed the positive contributions young people make to their communities and societies with Nick Hurd MP and Stuart and Baroness Lawrence, speaking specifically about how they can play a bigger part in the creation of a society where everyone can thrive.

Some students taking part in the Prince’s Trust’s Team programme presented an idea for a Social Action Project refurbishing a community centre in south London, while two Young Ambassadors spoke about their experiences with youth violence and how it impacts communities as well as the affect it can have on societal perceptions of young people.

T H E C H I N E K E ! O R C H E S T R A

The Chineke! Foundation, founded in 2015 by double-bassist Chi-chi Nwanoku, provide career oppor-tunities to young Black and Minority Ethnic (BAME) classical musicians in the UK and Europe. To mark the first Stephen Lawrence Day, their flagship Chineke! Orchestra held a concert at the Southbank Centre in London, performing works by BAME composers, for example Errollyn Wallen, Philip Herbert, Jessie Montgomery and Avril Coleridge-Taylor.

Preceding the concert was a panel discussion on the subject of social injustice, gang culture and racial inequality, moderated by Emma Dabiri (Social Historian, Writer & Broadcaster) with speakers including Imran Khan QC, Dean Atta (poet and writer), Gus Nwanokwu (teacher, man-ager & author), Sophie Linden (Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime) and Chi-chi Nwanoku.

The Chineke! Junior Orchestra, made up of players aged 11-18, also performed earlier that day, conducted by Stephanie Childress.

49

5150

J U S T L I N C O L N S H I R E , L I N C O L N S H I R E

JUST Lincolnshire, Lincolnshire Police, CPS, Victim Support, along with the office of the Police and Crime Commissioner for Lincolnshire successfully came together to put on an event to mark Stephen Lawrence Day.

There were around 70 young people from different schools across the country. To start the day, the young people watched sixth form drama students from De Aston School and Market Rasen, reflecting the significant events surrounding the tragic murder of Stephen Lawrence, what followed the events and the learning we as a society have been able to take from all of this.

This was then followed by a series of scenarios which identified hate incidents and demonstrated how, if left unchallenged, behaviour can escalate. This Forum Drama was delivered by Year 10 students from De Aston School. The expert guidance from the partners involved was available during the scenarios as they unfolded. Each table obtained the benefit of an expert to facilitate discussion. Tables were given the opportunity to feedback to the room any comments or thoughts they may have from their specialist perspective as to how the outcome might be changed if it had been challenged.

The students then replayed the scenario taking those observations into account, where possible. The idea of it all was to learn how recognising and challenging hateful behaviour at an early stage, can help to prevent tragic consequences. These drama students have been led in this complex project by a Community Drama degree student, from Bishop Grosseteste University, Lincoln.

JUST Lincolnshire work closely supporting schools with a Young Ambassador Programme to embed fairness and equality among the students. Some of the schools that were represented were already apart of the programme and we were very pleased to be welcomed as part of that development.

S O C I A L M E D I A C A M PA I G N

Up and down the country, schools, individuals, community groups and organisations large and small got involved in activities on and around 22 April to mark the day and shared their stories online

We ran a national social media campaign to raise awareness of the day which included a short ‘Hearts and Minds’ film, messages of support from politicians and celebrities and pledges ‘Because of Stephen’ from young people, community groups and schools. We distributed a partner pack to all stakeholders with our collateral for the inaugural day e.g. Because of Stephen selfie cards and example tweets.

- We encouraged individuals, organisations, communities and schools to take positive action by:

Doing something that makes their community a better place (from random acts of kindness, like helping a struggling mum carry her shopping to the car, to a more substantial commitment like starting a project to improve the local area, like organising a clean-up of the local park)

Film and post their own ‘pledges’ of what they will do or have done ‘Because of Stephen…’

Share their stories about how the day has encouraged them in their own lives to live their best life.

Our first post on Twitter on Stephen Lawrence Day (‘Today is the first SL day and a chance to reflect on Stephen’s life… ) achieved 388,213 impressions, 14,209 engagements including 2,484 likes and 1,575 re-tweets.

Across all our social media platforms, a video about the day by Theresa May was the single most viewed piece of content (350,000 views on twitter).

The ‘BecauseofStephen…’ card was widely used by community groups posting about their own activities as much as by organisations and individuals. 87% of funded community groups engaged with our social media campaign.

THE FUTURE OF STEPHEN LAWRENCE DAY

Proposed Objectives: Year 2

Community groups will have improved access to appropriate capacity building training and development support through Stephen Lawrence Day website including one to one capacity building support and referrals to infrastructure organisations.

Community groups will increase collaboration with each other and with local infrastructure organisations (e.g. DWP, CVS)

Communities will benefit positively from the delivery of more comprehensive and coordinated activities as a result of greater collaboration between local community groups. Activities to take place on or around Stephen Lawrence Day.

Young people will have greater knowledge of Stephen’s story, lessons learnt by delivering peer-to-peer training in partnership with the Volunteer Police Cadets.

Up to 10 Community groups will access funding to support delivery of their Social Action Project/ delivery of activity on Stephen Lawrence Day (aligned with Communities Guiding principles and Serious Crime and Violence Strategy).

52

WWW.STEPHENLAWRENCEDAY.ORG