Forging your future
Forged Futures is an initiative founded by a group of York University students. We aim to combine academic research with the lived experience of Sheffield's youth to provide safe alternative spaces to allow young boys to develop key socialising and employability skills.
Our approach
Knife crime remains a persistent and serious challenge across England and Wales, with the Criminal Justice System handling 18,572 knife and offensive weapon offences in 2024 alone.
Our focus particularly concerns the growing involvement of young people: 3,206 children aged 10 to 17 faced knife-related offences in 2024, a 20% increase on ten years ago.
Our approach is built on this evidence. We recognise that tackling knife crime requires not just enforcement, but a sustained, multi-layered response that addresses the root causes driving young people toward violence in the first place.
Our Initiatives
Sport Initiatives
Dedicated team of professionals, partnered with influential sport personalities such as the Sheffield Stealers. With the aim of getting children off the street and in safe spaces, learning new skills.
Employability Initiatives
Our team offers young people and their guardians the opportunity to develop key employability skills to enhance their opportunities for the future. Workshops we offer include financial literacy and trade based skills like plumbing and bricklaying.
Social Media
Our solution is based on a multilayered media solution. Our social media aim to engage youth on platforms they are actually using. Our survey has informed this, with instagram being one of the most highly used platforms. Our social media signposts young people to key information found on our website.
Myth v Fact: Carrying a Weapon
| Myth | Fact |
|---|---|
| "Carrying a knife provides a person with protection" | It has been proven that if you carry a knife, you are more liekly to be hurt or threatened by someone else. People are often wounded by the knife they were carrying, putting them at greater risk. |
| "Most young people carry knives" | Actually, 99% of young people DO NOT carrry knives. It may feel like more people carry knives because of common stories or what people see online, social media or in the news. |
| "If it is illegal to carry a knife, then other sharp objects can be carried for protection" | Any sharp object that is being carried with the intention of using it in a threatening way could be classed as an offensive weapon. |
| "There are safe places on the body to stab someone" | Any stab wound could be fatal for a number of reasons. For example, major arteries run across the whole body. If one of these is severed, the person will bleed very quickly and it could be fatal within 5 minutes. |
Survey Responses - Social Media Use Among Young Men
"Content that is un-relatable and appears to cause no harm, unintentionally does. A post was made about someone my age fearing the day of parental death when parental death has been experienced by myself already".
"Addiction during secondary school caused severe sleep issues that led to me falling behind at school and becoming unhappy with my situation".
"Impacted it positively by allowing me to keep up with friends who I otherwise wouldn’t have seen or heard from. Impacted it negatively because it portrays a very unrealistic standard of how to look and act, and forces constant comparison with others".
Get in touch
Our Sheffield Centre
Sheffield Hallam University,
Howard St, Sheffield City Centre,
Sheffield S1 1WB
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