Notes

"No More" - Event Report (by David Adebayo)

On Saturday 8th December 2019 us Divine Iconz held an event, titled "No More", with the aim of stopping youth violence in London. This report highlights the overall general feedback from those attended, what went well and what could be improved on in future.

Overall, there was a lot of positive feedback. One key and reoccurring response was that Sheldon Thomas, the first speaker, was very good. This was due to the realness of his presentation, his statistics and how he discussed these delicate topics from his perspective of him previously being a former gang member. As well as this, people liked the praise and worship and the involvement of everyone in the forum. Another point raised was the amount of useful information that was shared from parent and youths alike e.g. parents who didn't understand what a G-check was had it explained it to them by the youths. Also, those who attended were also informed about different things, such as the roles girls played in gangs, and how everyone had a responsibility and a part to play in youth violence, as well as the fact that all of us were part of the reason of why youth violence still existed today. Some of this feedback enabled certain youths to kick-start conversations with their parents, and has made those who attended the event more knowledgeable on these topics.

However, there were also points raised about what could be done to be improve on in future. One point raised was that although the structure was good, it could have been a bit more free-flowing. This would've been in order for more personal questions and discussion points to have been voiced, rather than it being the hosts asking the audience to give their opinions and views on a group of already preset questions and discussion topics, meaning there wasn't much of an opportunity to discuss topics that weren't already preset in the presentation. As well as this, the feedback showed that people would have liked Sheldon to have had a longer presentation, showing that the audience really enjoyed his presentation and the impact and knowledge he shared with us