Children from the NW5 Play Project in Kentish Town joined the march across Camden calling for action to end knife violence

• AGAINST a background of tragedy and sadness it’s been humbling and inspiring to witness a whole range of responses to the knife violence of recent weeks.

At a number of community meetings, on a march through Kentish Town and during Radio 5’s broadcast from the Dome in Queen’s Crescent on Monday (http://tinyurl.com/yd9khyed), we’ve been privileged to be part of a process that has expressed shock, grief and anger while sowing the seeds of healing by beginning to answer this crisis.

From the stories and opinions of teenagers, parents, youth workers, psychologists, police and politicians, a clear picture of our common responsibility to each other appears to be emerging.

People need networks, and never more so than at turning points in their lives when a sense of instability can make bad choices seem like good ones.

Whether joined for support, learning, fun or opportunity, a network of people strengthens its members against the inevitable disappointments of life.

While we continue to argue for resources to enable us to do it better, a part of our duty to young people is to find ways with whatever we have to increase and enrich their connections to each other and the world, capturing their attention and, ideally, their aspiration.

Armed with this approach, we believe we can conduct the right kind of campaign against the organised violence that is being inflicted on our communities.

If resources are focused on helping young people build and maintain the widest range of networks possible, in as many settings as we can offer, then everybody’s skills come into play in a common cause.

Small or large, a series of interventions to create and sustain truly social networks for young people – in families, schools, youth clubs, community venues and on the streets – cannot fail to be part of the solution.

JAMES WAITE
Chair of Trustees, Queen’s Crescent Community Association