Asda has announced it has partnered with Sheffield Park Academy to launch a new anti-knife crime campaign pilot in 8 of its stores in Sheffield.
The Safer Together: #AskNik campaign encourages young people to seek assistance discreetly in local businesses in Sheffield if they do not feel safe.
The #AskNik team work with local primary schools during community cohesion sessions to make keychains that they can then use if they need to use the code word in a store.
The safety keychain contains a torch, a whistle, and a tag that stores a phone number of a trusted adult.
If a young person does not feel safe, they can enter a participating nearby Asda store and ‘Ask for Nik.’ Store colleagues will then offer support before contacting their trusted adult.
Students from Sheffield Park first presented the campaign to representatives from Asda as part of the annual NextGenLeaders school programme.
This is the fourth year in a row Asda has supported the NextGenLeaders, a programme which is aimed at empowering the next generation of leaders in schools across Yorkshire.
As part of the programme, school teams compete to deliver the most impactful projects over the course of an academic year.
More than 200 students from Yorkshire schools came together at Asda’s head office in Leeds to present their community-based projects designed to transform environmental and social problems.
Sheffield Park Academy won the competition this year and representatives from Asda were so impressed by the campaign, it has now officially been rolled out in 8 of its Sheffield stores.
Students from the winning team were inspired to launch after personally witnessing knife crime themselves, with participating Asda stores now displaying signage to indicate that they are supporting the campaign.
Keren Owheya, student at Sheffield Park Academy, said: “NextGen Leaders has been an inspirational programme to be a part of. Our programme manager pushed us to think outside the box, teach us how to be positive influences and create leaders with critical mindsets. It has prepared us to tackle future problems.
“I am very happy to have taken part in this programme. We would like to thank Asda for supporting us and for helping us raise money to have a bleed control kit at our school.”
Zain Meah, student at Sheffield Park, added: “We chose to tackle these issues as knife crime is a growing concern in our area. We are so pleased that Asda have decided to promote our campaign as we now feel like there is somewhere safe to go in an emergency.”
Asda has also supported the group through local fundraising. The funds have delivered Bleed First Aid Kits to the local community and first aid training to young people, so they know what to do if someone is a victim of knife crime.
Lyndsay Holland, Asda’s early careers programme manager, said: “The Ask for Nik campaign is an initiative that really resonated with us at Asda when the fantastic team at Sheffield Park presented it to back to us. As soon as we heard the personal experiences of the young people involved with this campaign, we knew we had to get involved and play our part.
“We recognise how important campaigns like this can be and the significant role Asda can play in tackling this important issue. By rolling this out in our stores, we can make sure this campaign reaches even more local communities, so that more young people can feel safe.”
Sally Duckering, senior director for South Yorkshire at Asda, adds: “This is a fantastic campaign that has been embraced by the Sheffield stores that are piloting it. We’ve seen how effective campaigns like this can be, as we continue with important work to keep our communities safe.”
Speaking about the name of the campaign, Nicolas Pectu, a student at Sheffield Park Academy, he said: “We chose the name Nik as it is gender neutral, culturally diverse, easy to remember, and of course, my name is Nic!”
Full list of stores
· Handsworth
· Drakehouse
· Chaucer
· Catchbar
· Walkley
· Manor Top
· Woodseats
· Queens Road
