A group of Digital Media Production students from Solihull College & University Centre have created an awareness campaign in partnership with Digital Innovators and West Midlands Police, centred around informing young people about the dangers of knife crime.
The students Eve, Yasin, Renee, Dante, Kyle and Hannah – forming part of the Youth Support and Protection (YSAP) team – have built a fully functional website that contains interviews, blogs and short films around the subject, increasing awareness about the issue of knife crime, as well as where victims and perpetrators alike can seek support.
They describe themselves as an anti-knife group for youths, by youths and their goal is to make the streets a little safer for all those who walk them.
The group of six made signs where people can get help and amnesty boxes, designed for the collection of knives, blades and other harmful weapons.
The West Midlands Police chose the issue of knife crime for the project with the aim of raising awareness around the prevalence of knife crime and its effects on the wider community.
Solihull College & University Centre has worked alongside local training provider Digital Innovators for a number of years to help students build the confidence, self-belief, leadership and digital skills to stand out.
Student from subjects across the College can work with Digital Innovators and its Skills Programme alongside their course to build employability skills and give themselves an advantage in an increasingly competitive job market.
Bronia Hennessy, Communications and Business Development Assistant at Digital Innovators, said: “We reach out to employers locally to see if there are any challenges and the students on our Skills Programme are tasked with taking on the project.
“This project has improved the students’ team building skills, confidence skills and presentation skills – all skills which are useful in the workplace.
“They are working together to have a positive impact on the community and the police have been really impressed with the students’ work; they awarded them with a special award.”
Touching on the partnership between the College and Digital Innovators more widely, Bronia comments: “We’re all about unlocking the potential that’s already here and encouraging students at the College to show us what they think.
“We’ve had the partnership for several years now and it has allowed us to expand our services and work with more people.”
You can find a link to the website here. *The site does not yet possess all the information produced by the students. This is due to be published in the coming months.
Find out more about Digital Innovators here.
