Youth Ambassador Project Launches in Sussex
Police & Crime Commissioner Katy Bourne has allocated funding to create a Youth Ambassador Project in Sussex made up of over 30 children and young people.
The Youth Ambassador Project will be led by the Breck Foundation - a UK-wide charity established in 2014 in response to the death of 14-year-old Breck Bednar, who was groomed and murdered by someone he met online. The Foundation delivers life-saving, online harms awareness education to children across the UK.
For this pioneering project, the Breck Foundation will create cohorts of Ambassadors aged 13-18 who receive training to deliver high quality, peer-to-peer educational presentations on the signs of online grooming and exploitation using Breck’s story.
15 schools are taking part in the scheme across Sussex, primarily focusing on years 9 and 10. The project will also see an additional cohort of over-16’s at BHASVIC College acting as Senior Ambassadors.
The aim of the project is to engage and empower young people to become inspirational speakers confident in the delivery of online safety to their peers, whilst highlighting the dangers of grooming, which has risen by 84% nationally in the last four years.
Project Coordinator for Sussex, Giselle Wild, has already begun recruiting Ambassadors and visited BHASVIC this week to meet potential candidates for the over-16’s cohort.
Once all Ambassadors have been recruited, they will undergo training in: public speaking; safeguarding; team-building and learning Brek’s story. The teams will begin their work from September 2025 onwards and there is potential for the scheme to grow after this initial pilot stage.
Speaking about the importance of the Youth Ambassador Project, Police & Crime Commissioner Katy Bourne said: “It’s vital that young people are given a voice and support to empower others like them, especially when it comes to the dangers of online grooming and safety. Whilst I have a duty as Police & Crime Commissioner to provide support for victims of crime, I am also determined to prevent harm where possible.
“Breck’s story, sadly, isn’t a standalone tragedy. 70% of grooming happens on social media with 25% of victims being under the age of 12. Peer-to-peer education is a proven route to prevention in an increasingly digital age and I am eager to see our pilot Ambassador programme take flight. I am confident that our Youth Ambassadors will soon be helping young people to stay safe online and I look forward to meeting Giselle and her new recruits over the coming months.”
Erica Thornton, CEO of the Breck Foundation, said: “It is a privilege to partner with the OSPCC on this innovative project. Sharing Breck’s story is incredibly powerful. His mother, Lorin, believes that if Breck had heard one of our presentations, he would still be alive today — and time and again, our work has shown its impact, leading to many disclosures of online grooming from both children and parents. Now, more than ever, children’s voices need to be heard as online safety takes centre stage in government and media discussions. We are honoured and excited to support these inspiring young people during what will no doubt be a transformative time in their lives.”
Keith Beckley, Children and Young People’s Team for Sussex Police said: “With the dangers of online grooming and safety high on the public, Government and media agenda, the Youth Ambassador Project led by the Breck Foundation is exciting to see. Work done to prevent harm in this area is key to helping keeping children and young people stay safe in Sussex and beyond. We look forward to seeing this project grow and the Youth Ambassadors not only helping to keep their friends and peers safe when they deliver their presentations but also becoming confident and inspirational speakers on internet safety. We look forward to working with the Youth Ambassador’s to get this important message over to young people.”
Jackie Raybone, Safeguarding Manager and Online Safety Lead for BHASVIC comments on the programme and first session at the college: “The first Youth Ambassadors session run by Giselle Wild from the Breck Foundation was successfully attended by a number of BHASVIC students. They watched a moving film about the tragic and horrific murder of Breck Bednar, and learned how the project is focused on raising the message of online safety. All of our students were keen to become involved, and enthusiastically explored initial creative ideas as to how online safety awareness could be further embedded within preventative safeguarding education at BHASVIC.”