“We owe it to the city’s children to make their parks safe spaces”

The founder and leader of a charity formed to help tackle youth violence and child exploitation in the city, has given her full support to the Park Light campaign.
Mums United group pictured together in Mount Pleasant Park,Sharrow...LtoR,Alice Watts,Sahira Irshad,Julie Higginson,Nighat Basharat Mums United group pictured together in Mount Pleasant Park,Sharrow...LtoR,Alice Watts,Sahira Irshad,Julie Higginson,Nighat Basharat
Mums United group pictured together in Mount Pleasant Park,Sharrow...LtoR,Alice Watts,Sahira Irshad,Julie Higginson,Nighat Basharat

Mums United is a Sharrow-based charity founded in 2018 led by local mothers. The grassroots organisation emphasises the need for community involvement in public decisions and issues, particularly giving a platform to mothers and young people themselves.

It aims to provide alternate paths to young people who are at risk of becoming involved in gang violence.

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Sheffield-born charity founder Sahira Irshad, 42, relocated home from London because she didn’t want her children to grow up around the ‘rife gang violence’ in the capital.

“I very quickly found out that the very things I moved away from were happening here too and it was happening very openly,” she said.

“When I spoke to other mums in the area they voiced similar concerns, but felt as though they did not have a voice in their community. So I thought it very important to create a group like this.”

Her charitable organisation runs interactive workshops and community events to engage, educate and empower young people and mothers to develop new skills and understandings.

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It aims to create a safe environment for both parents and young people to be able to talk about topics such as knife crime and mental illness.

Sahira was named South Yorkshire’s Community Foundation’s Community and Environmental Champion in 2019.