Consultation on Violence Affecting Young People in Brixton
At the start of 2020, High Trees were approached by Lambeth Council who wanted to engage local people through a series of listening campaigns comprising of numerous one-to-one conversations, with the purpose of understanding violence affecting young people, the impact of this on the local community and finding local solutions to this.
Through the listening process, Lambeth Council also wanted to identify leaders who would be willing to act on potential solutions to reduce violence affecting young people and encourage people to come along to a larger discussion, bringing the community together on this issue.
The findings
Discussions with the local community focused on talking about their experiences of violence and perceptions of young people in Lambeth. These discussions were solution-focused, looking at the root of the problem, how young people can be supported to thrive in Lambeth and how violence affecting young people can be reduced.
The main findings from these discussions highlighted the negative perceptions of young people and how these were often rooted in discrimination. The impact of violence on respondents was wide ranging, and when looking at the root of the problem, answers often focused on structural issues such as a deficiency in services, poverty and a lack of opportunities.
Looking at solutions to reduce violence affecting young people and help young people thrive, respondents identified improving statutory services and community-led responses as equally important.
Following the listening campaign, High Trees produced a report analysing the findings from the listening campaign and used these findings to help inform the larger discussion. Using this, we designed and facilitated a discussion around the topic of violence affecting young people with over 100 attendees and compiled the findings from this into a further report for Lambeth Council, who have used this to help push forward with plans to reduce violence affecting young people in the borough.