Rosemarie joined Lewisham Safer Neighbour Board to work with local people, board members and allied services to make Lewisham a safer and stronger place to live, work and belong. This means focussing on the issues for local people: tackling and reducing neighbourhood crime, anti-social behaviour and serious violence. The expectation is an improvement in trust, less crime and high standards. The skills, capabilities and attributes that Rosemarie bring to the SNB include working across diverse sectors: business, public, private and VCSE, both at strategic and operational levels, leading strategic improvement and transformational change across a range of service types.
Funmi is an accomplished Counsellor and Youth Mentor who offers a strong record of providing empathetic, objective support, advice, and guidance to adults / young people from all walks of life, who present various challenges and issues. In addition to strong counseling and support skills, she also bring strategic leadership experience from time spent as a School Governor. Funmi is analytical in her approach and a strong problem solver who enjoys working in a productive team and conducting research to support sector advancements. Focused on maximizing positive outcomes and ensuring individuals receive the support they need to thrive, she look forward to using her skills to assist children and young adults within a family-centered organisation.
Joe is the chairman of Catford Synagogue, the treasurer of SNB, the treasurer of Lewisham Interfaith Forum, the Trustee of Ravensbourne Project (children’s respite home in Lewisham), the Assistant Governor at London Rotary (member and treasurer of Lewisham and Penge Rotary Club).
Collet actively works with community groups to bridge the gap to vulnerable victims. Founder and CEO of JRHYS and a certified counsellor under the capacity of making referrals. Collet embraces her journey and the loss of their first born to violence continues to keep her passion alive to make positive changes in the Borough of Lewisham. Wellbeing workshops are delivered in schools and the local community with the focus on early intervention measures. Author of ‘Five Years Later’, her book is used to help deliver the ‘realistic Optimism’ workshop in schools and their ‘sIp n tAlk’ platform supports victims of violence. They also sit on the team that monitors calls to the police across London and their work with the local Police in creating awareness of knife crime and it’s consequences is ongoing. Some of the work JRHYS have undertaken in the community can be found here
Tayo has been in community policing engagement for two decades being a voice for many vulnerable and disenfranchised people in the community. As a liaison between community safety managers and those deemed to be ‘hard to reach’, advocating for fair process to strengthen the community and improve community safety. She has chaired the hate crime working group, the Lewisham Safer Neighbourhood Board and London communities policing partnership and is looking forward to support strengthening the police Ward Panels in Lewisham
Thanh is the co-founder of Two Mindful Bees, a community wellbeing social enterprise working with communities across Lewisham and beyond. His work brings together mindfulness, health, environmental care, community activities and shared learning to create spaces where people can connect, care for one another and participate. Thanh works with people of different ages, backgrounds, cultures and faith traditions, alongside community, health, voluntary and public sector partners. His work includes community wellbeing, men’s health, community research, co-production and environmental activities, including mindful community litter-picking initiatives that connect environmental action with social value. This broad community perspective reflects Lewisham’s diverse communities and its commitment as a Borough of Sanctuary. He has also been involved in community research through the Research Engagement Network and is now a Board member of the Community Research Collaborative, bringing experience of lived experience, research, data and privacy. As a member of the Safer Neighbourhood Board, Thanh is interested in exploring how trust, relationships, prevention, equitable wellbeing and participation can help create the conditions for safer and stronger neighbourhoods. He brings a willingness to listen, learn and connect different communities, perspectives and partners.
Dawn Atkinson has a long history of working with and supporting communities across Lewisham. She is the Service Manager at Community Advice Works, co-leads Evelyn Community Food Store, and is a former Lewisham councillor and Mayoress of Lewisham.
Cllr Aaron Regisford recently graduated with a law degree as part of his preparation to train as a solicitor, before becoming a councillor.. His strong sense of justice is one of his core values, central to this is that justice is always fair and proportionate. Cllr Regisford is committed to challenging the police, holding them accountable against their historic over-policing of black residents, and putting pressure on them to sufficiently protect vulnerable communities.
He will support them where appropriate, and provide critical, constructive feedback when necessary. Cllr Registford believe that early intervention to support vulnerable people, trust in institutions like schools, teachers, and the police, and investment in local communities to meaningfully enrich people’s lives and the places that they live can prevent crime before it happens.
Joel is a caseworker for Spark2Life an organisation commissioned by multiple London Boroughs to deliver high level mentoring. Spark2Life’s team work with complex, medium to high risk young people, known for/associated with serious youth violence, gangs and habitual weapons carriers. This work is in partnership with the Youth Justice and Social Services, Probation as well as other services who make referral’s. Young people and young adults are supported with housing, education, training, and employment needs, as well having access to intensive and extensive mentoring programmes ,tailored to suit the individual client. Joel work as a detached street worker in Lewisham, as part of the ‘My Ends Programme funded by the VRU (Violence Reduction Unit) and offers a community led response to violence affecting young people. The work include therapeutic case work, where needed.
Florence Emakpose is the CEO/Founder of World of Hope, a youth and family support organisation that she has led for the past 13 years. World of Hope raise youth ambassadors who are trained and led on
different youth crime projects that educated and raised awareness of the consequences of crime amongst
the young people in Lewisham Borough. Florence’s experience and leadership skills: represented Safer
Neighbourhood Boards in different capacity include community engagement in Scotland Yard during the
2011 riot under LPCG. Florence is committed to working with others to make Lewisham a safer place for
all who live and are connected to the borough.
A member of the SNB since its inception, Royston has over 20 years professional coaching and organisation development experience; with 20+ years Emotional Intelligence structured Equality, Diversity & Inclusion developmental work stimulating sustained organisational learning and personal developmental growth; supporting Board and Leadership Team development.
They have worked with the Mayor and Cabinet on increasing black staff in employment; Stop and Search committee; Mayor of London’s Violence Reduction Unit; supporting organisations – Universities, Schools, LA, Health; specific Metropolitan Police activities include – Use of Force Steering Group; Community Facilitation and Multiple point entry review. Royston can be contacted at: info@ncbi.org.uk.
Anthony Powell is the Strategic Youth Offer Manager for Lewisham, overseeing the borough’s youth and play provisions and leading strategic partnerships with the Voluntary, Community, Faith and Social Organisations (VCFSO) sector to support children and young people. With over 25 years of experience in the Youth and Community Sector, his work spans public sector services including Youth Services, Early Help, Youth Justice, and Safer Communities. Anthony is known for his advanced leadership in driving development, investment, and operational excellence. His strong communication and stakeholder engagement skills have enabled him to advise at Board level across sectors such as community safety, policing, health, education, and youth development.
Sharon has over 20 years experience working in statutory and voluntary community roles, specialising in countering extremism, tackling hate crime, and strengthening community resilience, including chairing a Pan‑London hate crime forum and supporting the UK’s first Black Restorative Justice
Forum. She currently serve on Lewisham’s Independent Advisory Group and Police Encounter Panel and chair the Lewisham Hate Crime Working Group, advocating for communities whose voices are often overlooked as part of Lewisham’s Safer Neighbourhood Board.
17 years old and currently studying a BTEC National Diploma and A-Level Criminology at St. Francis Xavier Form College. He aspires to become a police detective due to his strong interest in criminal investigations, law enforcement, and victim support. Alongside his studies, he is an ambassador supporting initiatives that aim to reduce youth violence and create positive change in the community.
He has already engaged in LRAP – exploring ways to improve community relations. He has also taken part in 2025 Community Cook-Off as part of the SNB team.
I am passionate about making our community a safer place for everyone. Our charity supports people with learning disabilities to use their voice, and we hold events about important topics chosen by our members. We often talk about street safety and hate crime. I would like to make sure that what our members tell us about their experiences is shared with the Safer Neighbourhoods Board and the police. I am interested in increasing awareness of disability hate crime, making sure that everyone knows what hate crime is and how to report it, and working with the police to make it easier for people with learning disabilities to report hate crime. This is really important, as disability hate crime is underreported. Lots of people don’t want to bother reporting it because it happens so often to them. I think no one should see hate crime as I work with lots of other community organisations, so I’m very proud of the Lewisham community. I want to be involved to make sure that everyone feels safe when spending time in the Lewisham community, and they can access all that Lewisham has to offer.
Alice is an academic criminologist who started her career researching in local communities and criminal justice agencies responses to areas of high crime and violence. Her work includes assessing the impact of urban renewal and crime prevention schemes in East London.
Alice is a trained and experienced community mediator, was chair of the voluntary organisation Lewisham Action Mediation Project, and volunteers for two youth offending services as a panel member for referral orders.