Intervention and Preventative Outreach Work
West Midlands VRP Violence Reduction Partnership BLESST Faith Alliance Community outreach after school prevention and intervention with 40 young BLESST program belong Muslims and Christians, bringing them together to understand each other's religion and faith culture, and community, what a safe space looks like, what grooming and exploitation is, what an algorithm and many more workshops and creative learning activities what they learnt over the past 6 months. This was such a success that we were asked and commissioned to run it again for 6 months.
Empowering the Next Generation of Leaders
At BLESST CIC, our mission is built on a single, powerful vision: empowering young people to empower themselves. Our work transcends traditional youth engagement by bridging the gap between grassroots community safety and high-level academic research, transforming young people from passive participants into positive role models and active contributors to society.
Building the Foundation: The Power of Safe Spaces
Our journey begins with the fundamental need for safety. Through partnerships like the VRP Faith Alliance, we have created inclusive platforms where young people can express their concerns without judgment. For many, these are the only spaces where they feel truly heard, particularly when discussing sensitive topics like grooming, exploitation, and knife crime—subjects often overlooked in schools or religious institutions.
The impact of these "safe spaces" is life-changing:
Behavioural Transformation: We have supported young people on the verge of school exclusion, helping them self-regulate their emotions and reintegrate into education.
Holistic Well-being: By providing a platform for voice, we have seen significant improvements in our participants’ physical and psychological well-being.
Community Awareness: Discussions on social media algorithms and AI have taught our youth how to navigate the digital world safely, protecting themselves and their peers from being "led astray".
As one participant shared, a safe space is where you can "express yourfeelings without being worried of judgment" and feel protected enough tofocus on a "good future".
Breaking Barriers: Genuinely New Science
Leadership at BLESST is not just about personal growth; it is about academic and civic excellence. Through the "Street Grime" project in partnership with the University of Birmingham, our young leaders are engaged in "genuinely novel science". Rather than a "dumbed down" version of a curriculum, our youth participants utilise the exact same methodologies as PhD students to measure air pollution levels across Birmingham. By swabbing lamp posts and analysing magnetic signals in university labs, they are producing brand-new data that track environmental health risks, such as asthma-inducing particles.This initiative does more than just collect data:
Demystifying Higher Education: By walking through university halls and meeting researchers, the "unknown or scary" nature of academia is removed, showing our youth that university is possible for them.
Environmental Stewardship: The project triggers a firsthand interest in the environment, making participants realise that the "place where they are living"needs their protection.