Launch of e-learning platform to raise awareness of child exploitation

Not In Our Community Interact is a comprehensive e-learning platform dedicated to education about grooming leading to sexual and criminal exploitation.

Not In Our Community (NIOC) is a local campaign, funded and overseen by the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner (OPCC) for Humberside, that aims to raise awareness of child exploitation.

NIOC Interact is the fourth element of the Not In Our Community 5-in-5 campaign, bringing new and exciting, locally co-produced resources launched across the Humberside Police force area every week over 5 weeks. #5in5

Films produced and released through Not In Our Community range from the No More Knives animation for school Year 6 and above, through to films exploring themes of sexual and criminal exploitation co-written with young people and based upon their own experiences.

Whilst these films have been seen many thousands of times through social media, NIOC Interact has been developed to maximise the reach and application of these resources interactively within home and educational settings.

Humberside Police and Crime Commissioner Jonathan Evison said: ‘Not In Our Community is aimed at early intervention and prevention. Alongside our successful social media campaign, we produce resources and stories based on real-life events that can be used across personal, educational and professional settings to raise awareness across communities and help protect our young people.

'With continuing focus on raising awareness directly among young people, we have explored how we can support parents, teachers and youth engagement professionals in sharing these messages and strengthening the delivery of the resources across all demographics and age groups.

‘NIOC Interact provides a development from our existing provision - available for young people to access directly - but positioned also to support school, youth engagement professionals and safeguarding partners, forming a new offer of engagement to increase awareness of the dangers but to also encourage reporting and highlight the support available.’

After registering for an account, young people can access and follow interactive pathways suitable for year 6 through to further education. Pathways cover different topics including online grooming, child criminal exploitation and sexual exploitation, and are comprised of a series of short films co-produced with young people and professionals in the Humberside Police force area over the past four years.

Having chosen or been allocated an age-appropriate pathway with relevant key issues, learners watch films in bitesize chunks, take part in quizzes about what they think is going on in the stories and are given video feedback from specialist support workers from Cornerhouse (Yorkshire) Care Project and the Tiger’s Trust Kicks programme.

Young people can work on their own or with friends. When modules are completed, they can take an end of module assessment and gain a certificate of achievement when the pass mark is achieved.

Jenna Little, CARE project Co-ordinator at Cornerhouse said: “The NIOC Interact resources can be used in a variety of ways that can be best suited to the young people we are working with. The quizzes are good conversation starters and offer a guided way to open up conversations. I would also advise workers who aren’t experts in Child Exploitation to use these resources as the information is well laid out and concise whilst allowing a good forum of discussion.”

Mark Morton from the Tiger’s Trust said: “Tigers Trust have a long standing relationship with NIOC and their fantastic array of resources that they offer are often used by our staff to engage young people of all ages. NIOC have created some really powerful films and resources.  Their passion for supporting and educating young people in the Humber region is first class.”

NIOC Interact is available for free to all young people in the Humberside Police Force area via www.notinourcommunity.org. Additional functionality is available for schools, support workers and wider youth engagement settings upon request.