Council continues to raise awareness of exploitation this summer

Date Added: 22/07/2022

Tackling, Reducing and Ending Exploitation

A team of youth workers, social workers and Community Safety Officers were out and about last weekend as part of a project to tackle exploitation.

They were at Leighton Buzzard Carnival with colleagues from Bedfordshire Police as part of the multi-agency TREE Project. TREE stands for Tackling, Reducing and Ending Exploitation.

The project aims to engage with young people and the wider community and signpost people to support services, to make them aware of different types of exploitation and support people who may be at risk.

The project was launched in January of this year by Bedfordshire’s Violence and Exploitation Reduction Unit (VERU). It replicates a successful approach that has been pioneered by the targeted youth service at Luton Council and is being led by the Bedfordshire Youth Offending Service and funded by the VERU.

Just after its launch, the team, along with charity partners and police officers, visited Shefford, Biggleswade and Leighton Buzzard. They will be out and about speaking to people in locations across Central Bedfordshire over the summer holidays and will attend the Bedford River Festival on 23 and 24 July.