Campaigns
The VRN believes everyone has a role to play in preventing violence and access to accurate and up-to-date information is vital to enable children, young people and adults to play their part. We also recognise one cause of serious violence in our communities is social norms supportive of violence. Our campaigns seek to provide information and advice as well as empower people to be active bystanders. Read below to find out more about all our current campaigns. You can also access our toolkits which provide graphics which can be used free of charge.
Live Safe
Live Safe is a digital space that aims to provide information and support to young people, parents/carers and professionals in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland.
Curated by the Violence Reduction Network (VRN) and with content produced from across the partnership, Live Safe brings together key information about issues that can affect young people’s safety. It covers subjects such as knife carrying and violence, criminal exploitation, gangs, online safety, healthy relationships and substance use.  It also provides young people with some guidance and tools to be active bystanders and make a positive stand against violence.
Designed with young people in mind, Live Safe purposely does not include partner organisations' logos and strives to make information as accessible and as relevant as possible. The VRN has recently worked with the subject matter experts within the Network and local young people to co-design additional content as well as update the imagery used. 
Parents and carers can also find accurate and useful information about the same issues so they have the knowledge and tools to keep their children safe and know what to do if they are concerned. There are also pages for professionals with a dedicated space for educational establishments.  
Live Safe also provides links to national organisations and further resources.
Partners can find the Live Safe tool kit here which aims to support you to publicise the campaign and/or use it in your work with young people:
Make A Stand Against Violence
The VRN worked with young people and the creative agency Hitch Marketing, in developing the ‘Make A Stand Against Violence’ campaign. The campaign aims to empower young people by giving them some simple tools to be an ‘active bystander’. It uses a positive narrative which focuses on the majority of young people who are against violence but sometimes feel unable to do anything about it. Starting with ensuring the young person is safe themselves, the toolkit then gives three possible options:
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Cool it down.
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Be direct.
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Get help. ​​
Partners can find the Make a Stand tool kit here which aims to support you to publicise the campaign and/or use it in your work with young people:
We Don't Carry #LivesNotKnives
The Violence Reduction Network and Leicestershire Police developed a new approach and branding of their long-standing Lives Not Knives anti-knife crime campaign.
Emerging evidence suggests that an approach that uses shock tactics isn’t best suited to produce positive action and behaviour change amongst young people and can also have an unintended impact of increasing fear, a known reason why some young people carry weapons.
Through consultation with brand experts and young people, the campaign has been branded to ‘WE DON’T CARRY’ #LivesNotKnives. The new content aims to be more authentic, avoids negative stereotypes and instead conveys a more positive image and narrative which focuses on the fact that most young people do not carry knives and have positive ambitions and goals. Pictures of knives are not used within the campaign.
The campaign continues to have an educational focus, highlighting the potential consequences of carrying and/or using a knife and offers practical advice and solutions for young people if they are concerned about themselves or others.
Partners can find the 'We don't carry' tool kit here which aims to support you to publicise the campaign and/or use it in your work with young people:
Are You Listening?
The Violence Reduction Network (VRN) teamed up with Leicestershire Police and the multi-agency Child Criminal Exploitation hub to develop a campaign focussing on CCE. ‘Are you listening’ is a short-film which aims to raise awareness amongst trusted adults and highlight the importance of them taking action if they are concerned.
The film focuses on four stories, which although fictional, are typical
of the types of criminality children do and have been drawn into within and beyond Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland. It highlights that whilst children may not tell an adult if they are in trouble, there are often some signs which indicate they might need help.
