As four families woke up on Monday morning, hoping that the violent and sudden death of their children was just a nightmare, it was a far from happy new year. The fatal stabbing of four young men means they join a growing list of those whose lives have been devastated by London’s youth violence epidemic.

Since 2000, hundreds of children and young people have been stabbed, shot or beaten to death on the streets of our capital. In 2017 this type of violence reached an alarming high, one familiar for those who can recall the tragic peak of 2008.

‘Stretched’ police would use extra funds to tackle knife crime, says Met chief Read more

Those of us delivering frontline violence intervention services will tell you that we are nowhere close to it ending. And why would it? We have not done anything radically different to address youth violence in the last 18 years. I run The 4Front Project, a youth-led social enterprise on a mission to empower communities to live free from violence. London mayor Sadiq Khan’s latest campaign against knife crime has one thing right: we do need our young people alive. But when he says “our young Londoners are too valuable to risk their lives by carrying a knife” he fails to recognise that the reason many children do so is because they believe their lives are already at risk.

That’s not the only mistake that the campaign makes. Many of the usual responses to youth violence repeat the same errors again and again. First, the focus on the weapon is misleading. Knives are only used because they are accessible – you only have to go the kitchen drawer to find one. What Khan and other policymakers would be better off doing is addressing the root causes of the violence.

Mayor of London (@MayorofLondon) Carrying a knife won’t keep you safe. Help carry a new message. #LondonNeedsYouAlive #LNYA pic.twitter.com/GkOGJu6ySh

In reality, the UK’s capital is divided into two worlds. Many young Londoners inhabit an environment akin to a war zone, where the threat of serious violence is constant, leading to high levels of fear and anxiety. If you have never felt your life was under threat, it is difficult to conceive of what it could be like to a be child and have a very rational fear that you could lose your life every time you leave the house. The mayor’s slick hashtag and video will have zero impact on the teenagers who live like this.

If you have firsthand experience of streets that are unsafe, where your parents, teachers or even youth workers can do nothing to protect you, where do you turn? Unfortunately the police, paid to protect and serve, do little to increase their sense of safety. The complex relationship between young people and the police can drive violence many feel they have no viable legal route to deal with conflict.

Young people all say the same thing: longer sentences won't deter them as they would rather go to prison than be killed

Tougher mandatory minimum sentences are also not the answer. Through our LegalEase programme, which uses the law to stimulate conversations about violent crime, I have discussed this with hundreds of young people. They all say the same thing: the length of sentence will not deter them from carrying weapons because they would rather go to prison than be killed.

I hope these deaths will not lead to renewed calls for an increase in stop and search – this tactic will never end violence. Removing weapons from people without addressing why they are carrying them in the first place will not get us anywhere.

And no, violence is not a “black problem”. But there is a racial dynamic. The unaddressed issues between the black community and the police are driven by historical failings that continue to be perpetuated to this day. Young black boys are still over-policed and under protected. They urgently need culturally competent services that work with them holistically, addressing their sense of identity in a society that is hostile towards them.

What else works? We must make the link between rising violence and rising inequality. Young people are bearing the brunt of cuts with increased unemployment, homelessness and substance abuse and reduced support. When young people are violently attacked, they rarely access services that help them cope, and come to terms with their victimisation. Poverty creates an atmosphere of hopelessness and an environment in which violence can thrive. We should also remember that youth violence is not detached from other forms of violence in society.

We need a public health approach that works with communities holistically. We need to invest in the infrastructure so that young people can live in environments where they thrive, not fight for survival. Grassroots community work is what will restore hope and provide a sense of purpose to a generation that has been failed by our society.

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Over the past three months I have visited several cities that have tried to unify around public health. I visited a number of Cure Violence sites in Chicago and New York. I visited arts-based therapeutic services and social enterprises addressing trauma and providing employment in Los Angeles. I visited the Violence Reduction Units in Glasgow. There is a lot we can learn from the work being carried out here, however one thing was clear – community organisations in every city struggle for resources and infrastructure. There is no quick-fix solution. But long-term investment in long-term interventions that deal with the root causes of violence, such as unaddressed trauma, would be a step in the right direction.

Violence affects us all. While not everyone will or should work on the frontline, we can all play a role. As many of you make new year resolutions, I urge you to commit something to this struggle. We need your time, resources, skills and networks to empower those of us in the position to create change to make a bigger impact. Too many people have accepted children killing children as a tragic yet normal feature of life in London. I cannot.

• Temi Mwale is the founding director of The 4Front Project, a youth-led social enterprise to empower young people and communities to live free from violence