In partnership

Last week, the mayor of London launched Holiday Hope – a £2m campaign to reach young people during the school holidays, which is a time when they are less safe and more likely to get caught up in violence. The premise was simple: to give them something to do, something to aspire to, and something to eat. In the same week, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) published the crime statistics for the year.

Not for the first time, I was confronted with the dissonant realities of, on the one hand, creative and dedicated youth workers protecting and inspiring young people; and, on the other, Trumpian-inspired headlines that screamed that London was the murder capital of the world. This dichotomy has been ever-present since I was appointed to lead the mayor’s newly-established Violence Reduction Unit (VRU) six years ago.

How can we advocate for a positive prevention agenda delivering impact and change in the face of such negative, scare-mongering headlines that push politicians down a narrow, enforcement-based route? We need to carveout this space, socially and politically. Away from the headlines, the truth is more nuanced. The ONS recorded a 9.5 per cent increase in London knife crime, but violence against the person is down by 6 per cent year-on-year. You are less likely to be a victim of violence in London than elsewhere in the UK, and murder rates in London are lower than in big cities in the US (not to mention Berlin, Barcelona, and Paris).

What is arguably more significant for the VRU – which focuses on preventing violence affecting young people – is that by the end of 2024 there had been a 40 per cent reduction in hospital-based admissions for under-25s compared to the VRU’s initiation in 2018/19, a 12-year record low of teenage homicides, and the lowest number of under-25s murdered since 2003

However, there is danger in trading statistics. They can mask the horror of violence: the bereft family, devastated friends, and scared and scarred communities. Last year, 11 young Londoners were killed – 11 lives, full of potential, cut short. In a compassionate society, the impact of violence should never be normalised.

I am privileged to spend time with young people. The mantra of our Young People’s Action Group – ‘nothing about us without us’ – is integral to the VRU’s approach. What they relay is a picture of a complex and challenging environment: the lack of opportunity and the lure of quick money; fears of travelling to different parts of London; online influencers fuelling misogyny; high levels of anxiety leading to disengagement from school, and, sadly, young people carrying knives for protection. These problems often play out over decades in neighbourhoods that suffer the toxic trio of long-term drivers of violence – poverty, alienation and deprivation – which breed intergenerational trauma.

A few years ago, the VRU commissioned a report on violence across London’s neighbourhoods. Its sobering conclusion: the affected neighbourhoods would have been broadly the same 100 years ago. So what is to be done? First, we must make good on the government’s commitment to a national, long-term strategy to combat poverty. The mayor is one of the largest funders of activities and services for young people, reaching 450,000 young Londoners (and 150,000 parents/carers, youth workers and teachers) through the VRU alone. But without national investment, and with essential services crippled by years of austerity, working to reduce violence will always feel like swimming against the tide.

Second, targeted investment is needed in neighbourhoods enduring decades of intergenerational trauma and violence. That includes parts of London. While the capital’s streets may be paved with gold in the popular consciousness, London has 11 of England’s 50 most deprived local authorities.

Third, the government’s mission to halve knife crime requires a bold national prevention strategy that is not afraid to embrace what works and to stick with it. That means going deeper than commissioning knife bins and metal detectors – which are ultimately sticking plasters – and going further than single-year funding settlements, which do not build sustainable intervention models.—Instead, funding should be directed towards programmes that already hold positive relationships with young people, and the focus should be on the partnerships that enable and empower those interventions. Here, the past six years have proved inspiring and impactful. Backed by three-year funding from the Home Office and steadfast commitment from the mayor of London, we have led and enabled transformational change. Shaped by young Londoners and informed by evidence, the VRU partnership has charted moments of transition and opportunity for young people, confronting challenges such as race and gender, to develop universal interventions in early settings such as primary schools and targeted interventions at critical moments such as in custody suites, with much in between.

The results are impressive. Targeted oracy lessons for infants struggling with communication have substantially narrowed the skill gap with their peers, with teachers reporting children using words over fists in the playground. Healthy relationship training for 20,000 secondary school children means 80 per cent of kids can spot a red flag in a relationship.

Providing one-to-one mentors to over 800 pupils excluded from mainstream schools (now in pupil referral units) is having an impact, with 82 per cent of schools reporting increased attendance. This is particularly significant given research stating that teenagers permanently excluded from school are twice as likely to commit serious violence within a year of expulsion.

Funding targeted youth workers in 12 London hospitals and 12 London custody suites has already reached 31,000 young people at “reachable, teachable” moments, with a 70 per cent reduction in harm for patients, and nearly80 per cent of under-18s arrested for violent offences not reoffending in the following 12 months.

These interventions all rely on a positive relationship between a young person and skilled and culturally competent adult or peer. Someone who can build trust, provide support, nurture confidence, and encourage aspiration, and who adapts to the young person’s specific needs without the constraint of a predefined support period. Essentially, someone who is on their side. Because everything hinges on relationships, partnerships are key. During a recent visit to our award-winning MyEnds project in Brixton, a local organisation reminded the policing minister of a simple truth: those who live and work in a neighbourhood best understand its challenges and solutions. They also have the credibility to connect with young people. Partnerships between grassroots organisations can centre different services around young people’s needs – be it therapy, family outreach, or school support. Partnerships thrive when backed up by long term ,non-competitive funding. The challenge for the government is to let go, determine the outcome without overengineering the process, and avoid nationally driven, centrally commissioned programmes that too often undermine vital local ecosystems.

Partnerships with local authorities are equally important. Councils can draw together local police, schools and health providers. Together, they build infrastructure, develop local violence and vulnerability plans, and erode the policy silos that brush over how young people experience violence. Knife crime does not sit in one pocket of the community, with violence against women and girls in the other. The VRU is the regional body with evidenced impact in leading and connecting London in all its glorious complexity – with 32 local authorities, five Integrated Care Boards, and 12 Borough Command Units united around a common London plan. This can enable shared learning and best practice, remove blockages between agencies and communities, and invest – not only in financial terms – in place-based interventions. This would bring depth and breadth to tackling violence, both of which are needed for the government’s prevention partnerships to succeed.

We know from our experiences in London that building genuine cross-sector, cross-community partnerships takes time and commitment. Only by leveraging key relationships can we build a national strategy on strong local foundations. Only by having the courage to invest in interventions that address the long-term drivers will we truly transform the landscape of violence. And only by taking the time to listen to young people – rather than reacting to shock headlines – will we change the narrative and uphold the VRU’s core belief: that violence is preventable, not inevitable.

Image credit: Ian Probets via pexels