Stand by Me UK – A community empowerment approach to tackling hate crime
Local communities can be powerful allies in tackling hate and most people want to help, but often don’t as they don’t know what to do and are concerned about their safety.
Stand by Me was developed to engage witnesses/bystanders by addressing the barriers that prevent them from intervening.
Most victims of hate incidents do not report their experiences, which means there is limited information for the police and other agencies to work from. It also means that victims do not get access to support and the perpetrator becomes more emboldened to continue the hateful behaviour.
Bystander intervention programmes have the potential to disrupt situations fuelled by hate and empower people to make safe and effective interventions.
Stand by Me UK is the expansion of a pilot project to bring the programme to communities across England, Scotland and Wales funded by the Google.org Impact Challenge on Safety.
Marwa Soliman, from Nottingham, has been a victim of hate and recently trained as one of our ambassadors on the pilot project. She knows from her own experience what a difference this training makes.
“It has really increased my confidence knowing that there are things I can do whilst keeping myself safe. All my friends and family know about the project so they too can help others. It’s a great project to make communities safer.”
We are running a series of free Bystander Intervention Training sessions supported by West Midlands Police. Learn how to respond to hate. All training will be COVID-19 compliant and take place from
10 am – 4 pm.
7 Sept – Birmingham East
8 Sept – Birmingham West
9 Sept – Walsall
10 Sept – Solihull
11 Sept – Sandwell
12 Sept – Walsall
14 Sept – Coventry
15 Sept – Wolverhampton
16 Sept – Dudley
17 Sept – Wolverhampton
If you are part of a group or organisation that wants to attend any of the training dates or would like to organise a date for this training, we are happy to do additional days, then please get in touch with janet@comunitiesinc.org.uk