Spoken word project empowers young people to challenge gang culture in Merseyside

Merseyside Police and its partners have launched ‘Dear Merseyside’, a creative project that delivers an impactful spoken word message in secondary schools in EVOLVE areas – neighbourhoods most affected by serious and organised crime.

‘Dear Merseyside’ is in essence a love letter to Merseyside created by 21-year-old spoken word artist Joseph Roberts that features problems touching on gang culture and knife crime before talking about solutions and reflecting on the ‘love where you live’ ethos behind EVOLVE.

EVOLVE is Merseyside’s response to the Home Office’s Clear, Hold, Build strategy. This sees police and partners working together long-term to rid neighbourhoods of organised crime groups and build up community resilience to help protect the vulnerable and prevent further serious criminality to make these areas safer for generations to come.

EVOLVE projects are taking place in Netherton (Park Lane area), Wirral (Noctorum, Beechwood and Woodchurch), Liverpool and Knowsley (Dovecot, Yew Tree, Page Moss, Longview and Huyton) and in Everton and parts of Vauxhall.

EVOLVE Everton-Vauxhall is the latest Clear, Hold, Build site – the Clear phase began in January and the Build phase, which will run concurrently with the Clear and Hold phases, launched today (Monday 24 March, 2025) alongside the ‘Dear Merseyside’ roll out at North Liverpool Academy in Everton.

Officers have been carrying out high visibility patrols in the area to disrupt and deter criminal activity. 

Since January there have been 255 arrests, 32 warrants executed, 415 stop searches and seven vulnerable people safeguarded. Officers have also seized 12 weapons, around 10kg of drugs and more than £21,000 cash. 

The first of three partnership days is also taking place today which will see partners out engaging with the community, delivering leaflets about EVOLVE, starting a tidy up of the area and carrying out surveys with residents that will be used to support the initiative.

The ‘Dear Merseyside’ project launched at a media event in the Odeon, Liverpool One shortly before Christmas featuring talks from Joseph Roberts, Catch22, Everton in the Community and the LFC Foundation to highlight the dangers of exploitation while showcasing some of the diversionary work taking place in the region to improve futures.

The event was attended by more than 120 schoolchildren from EVOLVE schools, the families of Olivia Pratt-Korbel, Ashley Dale, Sam Rimmer and Elle Edwards and partner agencies.

The roll out will see assemblies taking place with around 2,000 Year 8 children who will learn about EVOLVE, watch Joseph performing ‘Dear Merseyside’ live and have opportunity to ask him questions before taking part in a session about exploitation with Catch22 who will let them know the signs to watch out for and what to do if they or someone they know is being exploited.

Following the assemblies, smaller groups of children will be taken to a double decker media bus touring the EVOLVE secondary schools with Joseph and local media agency Springboard, to take part in focused workshops where they will be taught by Joseph how to write their own spoken word versions of ‘Dear Merseyside’.

Joseph Roberts said:

“Poetry is a really important way to reach young people and help them to make the right life choices.

“It’s about helping them to find a voice. Some of the most successful rappers, poets and writers have been caught up in the wrong environments but poetry was their way out.

“Rap stands for rhythm and poetry. If young people listening to rap can use the same techniques and rhyme schemes and talk about positive things it could make a big impact.”

The children will be given a media brief and taught how to create engaging content for their key target market, resulting in young people creating content for people like them.

They will also be taught how to create short form video and audio content. Springboard will professionalise the content, which will then be used in a social media and audio campaign for Merseyside Police to help further spread these important messages among young people.

T/ Chief Constable Chris Green said:

“We recognise that if we want to continue making a big difference to the reduction of serious criminality, we need to be part of a solution that includes young people and that we make positive changes to their attitudes from a young age.

“We hope the ‘Dear Merseyside’ project will empower children to be able to reject the traps set by gangs by encouraging them to see the devastation criminality causes and the importance of reaching out for help, while reflecting on all the positives to living in our fantastic region.

“The project will encourage them to think about problem-solving and we will help them to bring their own ideas to the table, which we hope can contribute to making Merseyside safer.

“As part of our recognition of the important role young people play in our communities, EVOLVE Everton-Vauxhall will be holding a participatory budget event on 29 April at Notre Dame Catholic College where pupils will help decide which community groups’ bids for a slice of a £50,000 funding pot to improve the areas are successful.

“We are committed to making a difference in Merseyside and tackling serious and organised crime in any way that we can. Young people are our future and we are determined to make sure that their futures remain bright.”  

While Liverpool is currently celebrating the year of the spoken word literacy rates in Merseyside are among the lowest in the UK.

T/Chief Constable Green added: “This is a sad statistic and we want to do our bit to change it while hopefully creating safer futures by addressing issues related to serious and organised crime through artform and spoken word.

“We already work extensively with young people and partners on various projects such as diversionary opportunities with our Project Medusa team, a VR initiative with Everton in the Community, and Operation Prospect which is currently delivering workshops to 3,000 young people across Merseyside about the dangers of gun and gang crime as well as seeking to change their perceptions about the role we play in keeping communities safe.

“We have recently given funding seized from criminals to the Ariel Trust to expand their ‘Grassing or Grooming?’ programme to include pupils in Key Stage One as well as Key Stage Two to help support them identify when they are being groomed and how to report it. 

“And we have several campaigns such as VAWG, Silence is Not an Option and Eyes Open that aim to educate young people, their parents and carers about various dangers such as violence against women and girls, the importance of coming forward with information and the deceptive tactics used by county lines gangs.”

In July, Joseph will be holding the UK’s first poetry expo at the Liverpool Exhibition Centre where these schoolchildren will also be given an opportunity to perform their poems to other children and the public. It is also hoped that the children’s love letters to Merseyside will later be displayed in key areas across the region.       

Merseyside Police Commissioner Emily Spurrell added: “Young people are our future so it’s vital that we listen to them and work with them to encourage and educate them on the harmful impacts of following a dangerous path that leads to violence and crime.

“For the past two years, EVOLVE has changed lives and communities for the better, dismantling organised crime gangs, preventing them from returning to the places they operated, safeguarding vulnerable people, and making those neighbourhoods safer places to live, work and play.

“Now we are building on this work by keeping the topic of exploitation, particularly of young people, at the forefront of people’s minds. Criminals are callous, they don’t care who they harm to get what they want, so it’s vital we raise awareness of the signs of grooming to disrupt the recruitment model of these illegal networks. 

“’Dear Merseyside’ carries a powerful message, and these school workshops will allow us to reach hundreds of young people, empowering them to break the cycle of violence, whilst giving them the courage to choose the right path and reject a life of suffering they would experience at the hands of these callous gangs.

“By working with our young people, we can further enhance the success of projects such as EVOLVE, improving their opportunities, reducing crime and building a safer, stronger Merseyside for generations to come.”

Liverpool City Council’s Cabinet Member for Community Safety, Cllr Laura Robertson-Collins, added: “There is an absolute determination from all of the partners involved in the EVOLVE projects to tackle the root causes of serious violence, so that residents can go about their lives without fear of crime.

“‘The Dear Merseyside’ project and the participatory budget event are part of the commitment to continue to make a real difference and dissuade young people from getting involved in criminality.”

Community groups with projects that could help improve Everton and Vauxhall are asked to complete an application form by emailing Evolve.EvertonVauxhall@merseyside.police.uk or calling Sgt Nicola Hutton on 0151 777 1472.

Any young person wishing to report a crime anonymously can do so by visiting Fearless, part of the national charity Crimestoppers, on https://crimestoppers-uk.org/fearless/news/2025/fearless-in-merseyside or calling 0800 555 111.

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