With the escalating youth violence seeing scores of young lives lost in London and across the UK, the Newham’s Youth Movement’s ‘Addressing Safety through Active Participation’ (ASAP) Conference which was hosted at UEL. 

Within his respective roles as Chair of the University of East London and Chair of the Youth Charter Geoff Thompson was part of a panel that included the local authority, a local councillor, Chair of Local Children’s Safeguarding Board and the Metropolitan Police. 

During this conference a number of young people presented the issues of anxiety and fear following the shooting of their friend Corey Junior Davis, a 14-year-old schoolboy gunned down in a park in Newham on September 4th 2017. Geoff Thompson pledged to provide: 

• Somewhere To Go (where they would be safe and taken off the streets);

• Something To Do (with sporting, artistic, cultural and digital activities); and

• Someone To Show Them (how to develop their mental, physical and emotional life skills resilience).