Growing Strong successes
Creative, hard-hitting and fun - our Growing Strong
campaign has made people sit up and listen.
From special events to media coverage to mass flyering, support
from celebrities and briefings for MPs, here are some campaign
highlights so far:
'Step Inside our Shoes: Young people's views on gun and knife
crime'
We asked children and young people about gun and knife crime -
how they are affected by it, why they think it happens and what
they think the solutions are. We wanted to offer young people the
chance to be heard, to highlight their experiences and to have a
role in shaping the solutions to this important issue, and more
than 800 young people responded to our survey.
We used the responses to create a report, 'Step
inside our shoes: young people's views on gun and knife crime'
(pdf, 236kb), which young people, along with The Bill actress Ali
Bastian, delivered to Downing Street in April. Prime Minister
Gordon Brown responded personally to the consultation, welcoming
the views of young people, agreeing that more needs to be done to
tackle gun and knife crime, and thanking us for our work on the
issue.
Following the report, five young people had an exclusive meeting
at Downing Street with Gordon Brown and Home Secretary Jacqui Smith
to discuss gun and knife crime. The same young people then formed
an expert panel to take part in a 'Question Time'-style debate at
Hackney Empire in London, where they fielded questions from senior
Home Office officials, police forces from across the country and
key figures from the world of media.
Stand Up Get Down
In June 2008 we organised Stand Up Get Down, a unique evening of
entertainment combining stand up comedy and razor-sharp DJing.
Jessica Hynes, star of TV comedy Spaced, hosted the event
and performed her first ever full stand up gig. Other performers
included Stephen Merchant and Josie Long and 'Never Mind The
Buzzcocks' presenter Simon Amstell made a surprise appearance on
stage.
DJ Format and Russ Cuban of the Cuban Brothers got revellers on
their feet and 'getting down' into the wee hours of the
morning.
The event drew attention to Growing Strong and the campaign's
key messages, while engaging with a whole new generation of
supporters.
We have achieved:
- Two motions tabled in Parliament, with
combined signatories of more than 130 MPs
- A 24% rise in public awareness of the
importance of emotional wellbeing for children and young
people