Partners and support
The Safety Box has partnered with several organisations and companies over the years and has also been supported and funded by Government agencies and bodies. We are constantly looking for corporate partners that can help us to empower the lives of young people and above all keep them safe. Over the years, and through these partnerships, we have been able to reach thousands of young people across the UK and even overseas in the Caribbean.
We’ve inspired youth to achieve their goals, helped them get a start on their future through employment, and taught them safe, easy and memorable ways to protect themselves on the streets. The partnerships we make have been instrumental in achieving this, and they can give the young people we work with a glimpse into their future. Here are just some of the new partners we have worked with.
If you would like to support us financially, in kind or through volunteering please click here.
SEGA
In June 2022, we partnered with the world-renowned gaming company SEGA to bring the first programme of its kind to the UK: an Introduction to Gaming workshop for Black, Asian and Minority youth. Working alongside Coding Black Females to host the workshop, we learned how to code our own game, and then gained some tips on getting a start in the gaming industry form some members of the SEGA team.
The event was filled with knowledge, curiosity and enjoyment. Everyone who attended thoroughly enjoyed themselves, and through media attention, The Safety Box, SEGA, and Coding Black Females were able to express how their individual goals were able to combine to provide support and education for the youth in the community.
Manchester United Foundation
In April 2022, we partnered with the Manchester United Foundation to take one of our tailored programs to Manchester. The program was centered around a tailored intervention to benefit their youth through teaching our pillars of safeguarding young people at risk of knife crime and gangs. We used several role plays to illustrate the dangers of grooming and knife crime. Throughout the program, participants were highly stimulated by conversations surrounding safety when out and about, and how to avoid potential dangers with weapon carrying, young people in their community. The program also included self-defense strategies, where they were taught how to effectively defend themselves against their knife using gross motor functional movement.
Gross Motor Functional Movement are the largest muscle groups which moves the body. The participants of the program were taught that when the heart has over 145 beats per minute our complex motor skills (writing, small movements, martial arts skills) immediately begin to deteriorate.
When the heart exceeds 175 beats per minute adrenaline in the body is secreted at a rate that prohibits logical thought, peripheral vision is lost, hearing excludes everything not only that but tunnel vision and vascular constriction sets in as a natural way to reduce bleeding from any wounds you're about to suffer. Traditional martial art trained complex moves are very difficult to pull off and after combat freezing, begging for your life or the bladder emptying, the only movements you have left is gross motor skills; namely. Running, Large wide and big movements with your arms, charging or curling up.
Within this tailored program, it is specifically designed to teach the correct reactions in an unexpected crisis situation and when faced with a real violent aggressor. The young people were thoroughly put through their paces with a rubber knife being used to attack them int eh chest and stomach area. The entire program was both powerful, practical, and impacting. BBC Radio Manchester came along to hear how our partnership with the Manchester United Foundation came about, and how it is helping the youth in Greater Manchester.
Mayor of London and London VRU
In December 2021, the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, announced the new Violence Reduction Unit ‘Stronger Futures’ programme with a visit to an Aspire Higher session held at Park View School in Haringey.
This programme provides funding for school activities that young people can take part in, in order to provide wellbeing and
Hertfordshire Police
The Safety Box and Hertfordshire Police joined forces to create “Peace Week”- a short comprehensive programme for schools that looks specifically at issues that pupils may come across, including CCE and grooming.
The PSHE-delivered programme has gained much praise for not only its important lessons that it teaches, but also the enjoyment that the students experience, and the memories they walk away with.
One particular officer, Matt Chapman, had this to say about The Safety Box and the program:
‘I recently attended one of the sessions that The Safety Box team were running at Haringey 6th form college and I was hugely impressed by the enthusiasm of all those involved. I could see that each of the young people attending the sessions were enjoying the programme and were inspired and uplifted by the positivity, encouragement and support given to them by The Safety Box team. Having attended the session, based on their delivery, I would recommend The Safety Box as a viable intervention for young people.’
The Safety Box is incredibly grateful to Google who offered support to us for 5 months which provided a number of the Google employee volunteers who have supported us in ways that we were not strong in before around data and all things internet. They assembled an international team for us at Google to help us understand digital marketing, Google trends, content strategy, and ad grants, links to applications, how to use YouTube to engage with social impact also assisting us with SEO strategies. The support has been fantastic and we are very grateful to Google for reaching out to support us so that we can impact more lives of young people.
