Boro's Chosen Charities
England Star Judges MC Showdown
BORO star Stewart Downing turned X-Factor style judge in the latest stage of the Premier League's flagship community initiative, Creating Chances.
The England winger, who often has DJ spots at local nightclubs, was joined by DJs Banksy and Michael Joyce to judge the final of a rap, DJ and MC competition at the Riverside Stadium.
Young people from across the town have taken part in the competition to mark the launch of the Safer Middlesbrough Partnership's youth campaign, "You can manage without criminal damage!"
Seven finalists performed in the final, after qualifying from heats which saw an initial 130 entries from young people emphasising the consequences of committing criminal damage.
With Alastair Brownlee as compere, the finalists were judged by Middlesbrough's very own X-Factor panel.
They battled it out for the chance to record their track at a recording studio and see it distributed throughout schools and young people's services in Middlesbrough.
After some tough deliberations the winner was Sarah Robinson, from Gresham, pictured above.
Second were duo Middlesbrough Days, who were Craig Gardner and Lee Johnson from Berwick Hills and third equal were Sean Heshami, of Marton, and the youngest finalist, Ryan Lofts, from Berwick Hills, below.
Other contestants were Ben Lancoshire from Kader, MC Glade aka Elle McGlade of Marton and TS1 Crew, aka Mark Higgins, of Gresham.
The Safe in Tees Valley youth bus has been working closely with youth services, the Linx Project in Hemlington and Middlesbrough Street Wardens in order to deliver the project. DJ Banksy has mentored the young people throughout the process, helping to deliver anti-criminal damage messages.
Boro chose the Safer Middlesbrough Partnership's application to "win a player" and £2,000 from almost 100 applications.
Safer Middlesbrough Partnership Coordinator Graham Strange said: "Engaging with young people in this way can help to raise awareness and create a real change.
"We don't think that all young people are responsible for criminal damage but we feel that by working with young people we can improve our communities."
Middlesbrough school-girl Chelsea Taylor designed the "You can manage without criminal damage!" slogan which forms the focus of the campaign, aiming to highlight the fact that there is no excuse for committing criminal damage in Middlesbrough as there are so many activities on offer.
She also designed a criminal damage mascot, "Max the Mischievous Monkey", who will make his first appearance after the X-Factor competition.
The start of a long-term effort to change attitudes and perceptions towards involvement in criminal damage, the Riverside event also saw Stewart present Chelsea with an award for her efforts and recognise young people who have successfully completed a range of 'life skill' related courses.
The Safer Middlesbrough Partnership is a merged Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership and Drug Action team that coordinates organisations to reduce crime, fear of crime, anti-social behaviour and drug misuse in Middlesbrough.
*Boro players are making appearances for eight good causes as part of the Premier League's Creating Chances initiative.
Other Boro stars taking part are Mark Schwarzer, Jeremie Aliadiere, Jonathan Woodgate, Tony McMahon, Matthew Bates, Andrew Taylor, Luke Young, Emanuel Pogatetz, David Wheater and manager Gareth Southgate.
Other causes benefiting from their time are Abbey Hill Special School in Stockton, the Carers' Resource in Harrogate, Teesside Hospice, Butterwick House Children's Hospice and three of the club's education programmes, the Enterprise Academy, Heading for Health and Football First.
