News

Nottingham charity Switch Up warns it urgently needs more support to help stop cycle of knife crime

By Henry Green

---

A leading charity working to reduce knife crime and youth violence in Nottingham is warning it needs more donations to better support the community after three stabbing incidents in a week.

Switch Up’s offices were moved from the upstairs of their boxing gym in St Ann’s in May 2024 due to mould and increasing wear on the building.

The charity has since moved into offices at Nottingham Trent University temporarily while it waits for more funding to build a new community centre and headquarters.

The organisation, founded by Marcellus Baz, provides young people who are trying to escape violence or trying to better their mental health, with the right support to help change their lives.

Speaking after three knife crime incidents in the city centre in a week, Marcellus told Notts TV groups like Switch Up need more support if Nottingham is to move on from repeated violence.

“The new centre will be able to help about 500 more people – we need to scale up our services and we need to be able to support young people to make the right choices and with the current community hub we are currently in, it’s really difficult to take young people there,” he said.

Due to the condition of the current headquarters, inside the Pakistan Centre on Woodborough Road, the charity is unable to help more people. Around 150 people are on its waiting list.

Poppy Flint has been the manager for children and young people services for almost five years and found support for her own mental health through the charity.

She said: “Growing up as a young person, I needed that support I needed an adult that I could go to to mentor me and I didn’t have that person.

“I thought I want to be that person and to help people to show them that I understand and I get where they are coming from,” Poppy added.

Kiah Slater has used Switch Up since she started struggling with her mental health when attending university.

She said: “Switch Up is a really positive space and it’s enabled me to deal with my problems as an emotional outlet.

“The facilities have definitely gone down hill it’s really cold and in the winter it’s not such a nice place to be, unfortunately I think we’ve outgrown the gym,” Kiah added.

Switch Up has raised more than £500,000 but are still in need of £300,000 to be able to fund the construction of a new community centre since they appealed for funds last May.

Nottingham has seen three serious city centre knife crime incidents in a week, mostly involving young teenagers.

In the latest incident, emergency services were called to an address on Hounds Gate at 11:45pm on Friday (February 28) after a 17-year-old boy was stabbed, leaving him with serious, but not life-threatening, injuries.

On Sunday, February 23, a 17-year-old boy was stabbed inside Primark on Long Row, suffering non-life threatening injuries to his chest. And on Thursday, February 27, a 31 year old man was arrested on suspicion of affray following reports of a fight around Lower Parliament Street and Hockley, with a 28-year-old man being arrested – also on suspicion of affray- the following day (Friday February 28). No injuries were reported but a machete was found at the scene.

People can help the fundraising efforts and find out more about Switch Up here.