Priti Patel with, from left, Shirly Hume, Luisa Di Marco founder of ‘Keep it 100’ and Tina Townsend.
Priti meets up with ‘Keep it 100’ to discuss youth violence and how to prevent it
Priti Patel, the MP for Witham has today (5th February) met up with Luisa Di Marco and Shirley Hume of ‘Keep it 100’ to discuss the organisation’s anti-youth violence campaign.
‘Keep It 100’ is locally based and works to empower communities against exploitation of young people, and to highlight youth violence, including knife and weapon related crime. Their goal is to drive down the number of lives lost to youth violence. They are now working in partnership with Tina Townsend of the Witham Hub, who has been co-opted into the organisation and provides practical support for the victims of youth crime.
During their meeting with Priti, held at the Witham Hub, Luisa and Shirley outlined the key elements of their campaign, which include:
– A National day of remembrance for victims of youth violence as a legacy of Knife Angel visit to Essex.
– Innovative digital workshops
– Seeking to place ‘youth attractive’ branded and discreetly placed, amnesty bins and a collection service for knives and other weapons in every town.
– Youth networking events
– Support for parents who discover that their children are getting involved with criminal gangs.
Commenting after the meeting, Priti said: “It was a pleasure to meet Luisa and Shirley and hear all about their organisation, which is doing so much good work in addressing the causes of youth violence as well as campaigning for changes in the way we as a society deal with it. I look forward to working with them in the future.”
Luisa Di Marco, the founder of Keep it 100, who has personal experience of youth violence, said: “We are delighted to have had the opportunity to meet Priti and we enjoyed a very productive conversation covering a variety of topics around youth violence. We look forward to working with Priti to tackle the scourge of youth crime.”