Kingsway Community Connections (KCC) will host the meeting, which has been organised by elected officials, on October 21 to tackle the issue in the Garscadden/Scotstounhill ward.

Staff at the charity, which is based in the city’s north-west, recently visited Brixton, London, where they met with Marcus Lipton Community Enterprise (MLCE) as part of a joint effort to strengthen both organisations’ responses to violence affecting youths.

Left to right: Lainy Bedingfield of KCC and Wayne James of MLCE(Image: Kingsway Community Connections)

The visit in September followed the tragic death of 15-year-old Amen Teklay, a member of KCC’s youth groups, who died after being found seriously injured in the St George’s Cross area of Glasgow on March 5 this year.

KCC say that Amen’s loss “deeply affected the community” and continues to drive its determination to protect young people and advocate for long-term change.

The group have now formed a partnership with MLCE and both organisations are calling for urgent action from political and statutory leaders with four main asks.

Nadine Searchwell, mother of murdered youth Keelen Morris Wong, speaks with Lainy Bedingfield and Wayne James(Image: Kingsway Community Connections)

KCC staff speak to community police officers during a walk around Brixton hosted by MLCE(Image: Kingsway Community Connections)

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What are the asks?

  1. Leadership and responsibility: Central and Scottish Governments must establish a dedicated body to meet regularly with grassroots organisations, ensuring strategies are informed by live experience and that frontline voices are heard.
  2. A public health approach: Violence affecting young people must be treated as a public health issue, focusing on prevention and tackling trauma, poverty, inequality, and deprivation.
  3. Sustained investment: Short-term pilots must be replaced with long-term, properly resourced commitments that create stability, hope, and opportunity.
  4. A national framework, locally driven: A national framework must set standards and secure resources, while giving local communities the authority to design and deliver their own strategies.

KCC and MLCE staff meet with London’s Violence Reduction Unit(Image: Kingsway Community Connections)

Lainy Bedingfield, managing director of KCC, said: “This visit has reinforced both the urgency of the challenge and the power of solidarity.

“We have seen that Glasgow and Brixton face the same realities, and that community organisations cannot carry this burden alone.

“Our young people deserve safety, stability, and opportunity. The Four Asks we set out are not only the voice of KCC and MLCE, but they are also the voice of young people, families, and communities.

“We will continue to press until real change is delivered.” 

Lib Peck, director of the Mayor of London’s Violence Reduction Unit, speaks to Wayne James(Image: Kingsway Community Connections)

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KCC says it believes that the visit showed that while Glasgow and Brixton are separated by distance, “they face the same realities”, including young lives lost too soon, communities grieving, and local organisations stretched to their limits.

Both KCC and MLCE say that no community ‘should have to shoulder the responsibility alone’.

The team believe that lasting change is needed, which they say requires national leadership, policy reform, and sustained investment.

Both organisations visited the Houses of Parliament(Image: Kingsway Community Connections)

Over the two-day visit to London, KCC staff worked with MLCE staff, parents, and residents, listening to their fears and hopes and sharing their own experiences of supporting young people and families through crisis and loss.

The visit concluded with a visit to the Houses of Parliament, where both organisations jointly called for action.

Justice Secretary Angela Constance said: “My deepest sympathies are with the family and friends of Amen Teklay and anyone affected by youth violence.

“While I welcome Police Scotland statistics showing the level of violence involving children has fallen compared to last year, with a decrease in children identified and accused of weapons offences, I recognise that is of no comfort to victims and their families.

“We remain focused on tackling the issue of violence and have made it clear that no one should ever carry a weapon at any time in any place.

“Our approach to tackling violence among young people is focused on prevention and early intervention through education programmes on the unacceptability of violence, effective consequences for offences, appropriate police powers and sustained school and community engagement with young people.

“This is backed by an investment of more than £6 million to implement the Violence Prevention Framework, which includes action to address the carrying of weapons in and around schools.”