Following fruitful conversations with Mayor Adam Jogee, Hope in Tottenham met with the head of Haringey Council, Councillor Peray Ahmet to initiate the next stage of their planned expansion of the Safe Havens Project.
By Omar Alleyne-Lawler, Communications Manager
With Mayor Jogee already championing Street Doctors and the SOS Project, phase two of HiT’s commitment to combatting serious youth violence got off to a successful start with our charity meeting the Haringey Counsellor for the very first time.
Satisfied with overlapping HiT and council plans, we are pleased to announce our commitment to tackling serious youth violence and reducing the number of associated deaths to zero.
As Counsellor Ahmet stated, “Even one lost life is one too many”. With support coming on stream for the proposed expansion to the Safe Havens Project, Hope in Tottenham is gearing up to play its part in this welcome initiative. Currently focused on sheltering women fleeing domestic violence, HiT and the SOS Project would like to see Safe Havens return to its former glory, sheltering victims from imminent threats to their lives.
The Safe Havens expansion will see local businesses receive resources and training in handling a potential violent threat, sheltering victims, logging incidents and contacting police. As such, the expansion would offer better protection to young people who currently make up the largest percentage of knife attack victims.
Cllr. Ahmet is shown a tour of Hope in Tottenham’s working space at the Trampery, a designated Safe Havens building by Communications Manager, Omar Alleyne-Lawer and Youth Projects Officer, Chloe Hedman.
With the anticipated support of local officials, police bodies, businesses, and citizens, Hope in Tottenham aims to unite all four aspects of their work behind this project. Using its own funding channels, Hope in Tottenham will be bearing the cost of the project.
The Safe Havens expansion does not aim to replace existing schemes aimed at tackling serious youth violence. Instead, it hopes to join the portfolio of ongoing projects addressing the issue. As such, Hope in Tottenham is seeking to collaborate with and assist other interested organisations, such as Junior Smart’s SOS Project.
The support garnered from the Haringey Chief serves as a vital step in the right direction. In future, HiT and its collaborators will glean important information about how many businesses operate in the area.