Respect project to include schools and colleges
APROJECT run by York St John University to address harassment and unwanted sexual behaviour has been expanded to include schools and colleges in York. All About Respect in Education (AARIE) has already caught the attention of the Home Office as the project team widens the reach of their work.
The scheme was first launched in 2017 to promote a zero-tolerance approach to sexual violence, harassment and abuse on campus. It’s since blossomed into a citywide collaborative initiative involving different community partners in York.
Late last year the university received funding from the North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner as part of the Safer Streets project. This is now enabling the All About Respect team to expand their work into post-16 education settings.
The AARIE project also now includes running awareness-raising days at schools, colleges, and universities which include information highlighting the type of problematic behaviour they aim to target.
The team delivers bystander training to young people to raise awareness of sexual harm and empower young people with the strategies to intervene, and conducting focus groups with young people on these issues and what helps keep them safe.
A continuation of the innovative Dancefloor Project has been launched with funding from the University’s Institute for Social Justice and runs in conjunction with Bolshee CIC.
This uses an interactive installation to engage young people and gather their input on how they want to be treated, what makes them feel safe or unsafe, and how they can improve feelings of safety in our local community.
There is also the North Yorkshire Police surveillance project Operation Vigilant – an anti-harassment project designed to prevent harm, improve feelings of safety in the night-time economy, and promote positive relations between police and community.
The project will also provide education and raise awareness of the options victims of gender-based violence have in making disclosures to the police, encouraging positive relationships between young people and the police, and providing local level data to help inform preventative strategies and police resources.
Dr Melanie Dawn Douglass and Dr Anna Macklin, co-leaders of the All About Respect project at York St John University, said: “We’re really excited to be able to extend the project and work with young people across the city.
“The funding will enable us to continue educating about hate crime and sexual harm and raise confidence to tackle these behaviours.”
Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner, Zoë Metcalfe, said: “Improving safety for women and girls and young people are priority areas within my Police and Crime Plan and Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy. This initiative will have a real impact on keeping young adults safe and feeling safe.”