Junior Smart reflects on the last 18 years, setting up the SOS project with St Giles.
“When I stepped out of prison on 2 October 2006, I had no idea that a small pilot project I was lucky enough – employment straight out of prison was and remains a rarity – to take forward was to become a national service.
From my prison cell on the radio and on the news over the years I had felt overcome by the continuous tragic loss of life which was occouring through violence on the very streets that I knew, there are so many names that come to mind but among them are Michael Dosunmu, Kodjo Yenga , Tom ap Rhys Pryce , Ben Hitchcock , Kiyan Prince. There was a feeling of changing teams like a football player, I was no longer going to be a bystander or a passenger I was going to have a chance to do something about it. It was powerful and at the same time very scary, it was the day after my release from custody where I had spent five years of a ten year sentence. I was in the same area but I was determined to do things differently. Mentally I just kept saying one young person at a time. I was going to lead the SOS Project at St Giles and work with young men from the same community I came from in south London and do what I could to save as many lives as I could.
SOS grew to become a small team working across London and then an even bigger one with a national reach. It is grounded in lived experience – using people personally affected by the issues SOS addresses and who come from the same communities as the young people it aims to reach. From the start, we offered preventative work in schools recognising that building resilience and awareness in children was one of the most important steps we could take.
Over the past 18 years, we have intensively helped thousands of children and young people – persuading them to put down a weapon, break free from those who exploit them, stay in school, stay safe and stay positive. We have reached hundreds of thousands of children and young people in schools through early interventions such as mentoring.
18 years is an anniversary for SOS but it is a turning point for the young people we support. I wonder what young people turning 18 today would think?
Many of them will be thinking of university degrees and their next step in life. Life will throw challenges their way that previous generations have not experienced. Rising housing costs, climate change, ongoing financial instability and social media pressures will weigh on their shoulders.
For the young people SOS supports, these pressures are disproportionate. Many of them are in care or come from families experiencing severe poverty so they will not have the bank of mum and dad to fall back on. Covering private rent is not in their grasp and social housing will not be something available to them. They are exposed to the same social media pressures as other young people and have the same aspirations and dreams – some have told us they got involved in county lines as a way of saving up for a house. They don’t want expensive clothes or flash cars. They just want the same things as most of us – our basic needs met with a little left over for comforts and treats.
Many of them have not made it to their 18th birthday, their lives tragically and cruelly cut short by the ongoing weapons violence epidemic that it still with us today. Today, on the anniversary of the SOS Project we will be taking time to remember them and their families – some of them have sadly been young people we have been supporting through the project.
As we come of age on our birthday today, I am hopeful and reflective. We have made mistakes, learned from them and put 110% into helping put an end to this highly complex and multi-faceted issue. We know we don’t have all the answers and this is probably one of the most important lessons we have learned.
The new government has a renewed focus and fresh thinking on tackling weapons violence. But there are years of damage in terms of cuts to services and opportunities for disadvantaged young people to reverse and this will take time to achieve. The most important step we can take is to involve young people themselves in the solutions. The most powerful influence on young people is other young people. We need to listen to them, support them and let them shape their future.“