ABOUT US
I established the JJ Effect following the murder of my brother Jon-Jo in 2014. Since then, I have drawn on my experience to educate young people to steer them away from knife crime, county lines, grooming, criminal exploitation, among many others.
I have been recently joined by Eve Cross, who was herself a victim of a knife attack in 2019, when she was 17 years old which helps us get our message across that knife crime is not something that just happens to males, it affects a huge demographic.
We are honoured to work with many organisations across the Northwest and beyond. As we develop our repu- tation across the region, we will continue to focus our work on our home, Preston and Lancashire. More re- cently we have joined forces with Preston North End, Community Outreach & Network Services, amongst many other organisations across the city.
OUR STYLE, ONE OF THE MOST POWERFUL!
The unique services we offer are that we are relatable to the young people we work with. They can see them- selves in us; they are able to talk to us and know they will be understood. We have developed our style having presented to approximately 150,000 young people. This is evidenced by the immense number of positive re- views, feedback, emails thanking us, and face to face acknowledgements after the presentation
Our approach is to talk to our audience in an accessible way. We use hard hitting and real descriptions, video and stories to drive the message home. We also have the clothes Eve was wearing when she was attacked – they show the rips from the knife, and blood stains. The audience can see physical evidence of what happened to her.
This led to us being described by the CPS and other organisations as “one of the most hard-hitting anti knife crime presentations in the UK”.
ONLINE GREEN SCREEN
Despite the challenges which have faced everyone in the last few months, we were determined that we would not allow the pandemic to disrupt our work. We developed a “green screen” presentation which enables us to be “present” albeit remotely. We have delivered this style of presentation in Stoke on Trent and Nottingham for example. Although ideally, we would be in the same room as the young people, it has proved a successful alternative. Schools and organisations have welcomed our flexible and accommodating approach.
This green screen alternative allowed us to be in 108 classrooms in November alone. We can adapt and face whatever challenges we face, to ensure we continue to deliver our important message.
WHO WE WORK WITH
Our usual audience is comprised of young people between the ages of 11 – 25. However, whilst our presenta- tions are hard-hitting, we have delivered them to children as young as 7; the police have encouraged us not to dilute the content for a younger age range due to its importance.
Our work has been proven to be “one of a kind” and remains with the young people long after we meet them. The “JJ EFFECT” is the indelible impact on everyone we meet.
The presentations have been developed in a manner which has been widely used for staff, and teacher, train- ing. We believe the JJ Effect programme is ideal to develop skills in others to enable them to deliver similar sessions themselves.
Both platforms consist of a 90-minute presentation plus Q&A and the option of 1-2-1 discussions afterwards as required. Both presentations cover anti-knife crime, criminal exploitation, grooming, county lines, anatomy & physiology, gang culture, and an array of other related topics. Please note for the full JJEffect experience we require the venue must be dark enough for the desired, maximum effect. Fuel costs will be added for venues over 2hrs travel from our offices. If hotels are required the JJEffect will cover this cost.
HOW THE JJ EFFECT CIC EFFECTS THE COMMUNITY
The JJEffect was born from a personal tragedy whereby my own Brother was brutally murdered in Preston in 2014. As a result, I wanted to ensure that no other family or community would ever have to endure the sheer devastation that this caused, and the ripple effects it generated into the community as a whole. It was a real wake up call to realise this was not just on tv or in big inner cities, knife violence, substance addictions, gang culture/grooming was here, is here, and is on our doorstep.
From that I wanted to give a lived life approach and education to our young people to do the best to empower them to overcome and obstacles in their lives on a frequent, if not daily basis and support them and the com- munity through the most difficult and catastrophic times. From delivering one of the UK’S most powerful anti- knife crime and child protection presentations, teacher training, many charity events, or running our very own youth club, The JJeffect CIC is here to stay, here for our community and the country.