We're continuing to raise awareness of exploitation this summer
Friday, 22 July 2022
A team of our youth workers, social workers and community safety officers were out and about last weekend as part of a project to tackle exploitation.
The team were at Leighton Buzzard Carnival with colleagues from Bedfordshire Police as part of the multi-agency TREE Project. TREE stands for tackling, reducing and ending exploitation.
The project aims to engage with young people and the wider community and signpost people to support services, make people aware of different types of exploitation and support people who may be at risk.
The project was launched in January of this year by Bedfordshire’s Violence and Exploitation Reduction Unit (VERU). It replicates a successful approach that has been pioneered by the targeted youth service at Luton Council, is being led by the Bedfordshire Youth Offending Service and is funded by the VERU.
Just after its launch, our teams, along with charity partners and police officers, visited Shefford, Biggleswade and Leighton Buzzard. They will be out and about speaking to people in locations across Central Bedfordshire over the summer holidays and will attend the Bedford River Festival on 23 and 24 July.
Councillor Sue Clark, our Executive Member for Families, Education and Children, said:
Exploitation continues to be an incredibly serious issue and one that we can only tackle with the support of our partners and communities. The TREE project provides a really valuable opportunity to speak to our communities and ensure they know about the different types of exploitation and the potential signs.
Likewise, our teams are able to ensure children or young people who are worried about exploitation know where they can access help. The summer holidays and various community events that are taking place are a great opportunity for us to raise awareness, and we’re pleased to be involved in the project.
VERU manager, Lisa Robinson, said:
We will only make a difference to the lives of young people across Bedfordshire by getting out into our communities.
When different agencies work together with a common cause, change can happen. The TREE project brings together lots of different expertise and skills to ensure the young people we speak to get just the right type of support to make positive decisions.
We are proud of our work to bring different groups together and back them with the funding and support they need to make a difference. Over the coming weeks, we will be announcing further funding opportunities for organisations here in Bedfordshire.