PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Victims of crime in Philadelphia will soon have a new advocate to help them get assistance. City Council approved the selection of the city’s first victim advocate last week.
The Office of Victim Advocate was created through a change to the city charter approved by voters in November 2020, but it will be up to Adara Combs to bring the vision to life. Combs was chosen after a lengthy selection process, and approved at last week’s City Council session.
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“I have basically framed my entire career on advocating for victims. It’s the reason I became a prosecutor. Actually, it’s the reason I became a lawyer,” Combs said.
She is a prosecutor who has specialized in sexual assaults and family violence and, most recently, led the juvenile division in the District Attorney’s Office. She is a graduate of Philadelphia High School for Girls and Temple University.
“While forwarding the ball on things like reform and re-entry and all those other important initiatives, it’s important to me that we don’t lose the voices of victims and continue to advocate for them,” she said.
Her mission is to help coordinate the agencies that offer assistance to victims and to set policy for addressing related issues and concerns. The office will not provide direct services itself. The idea for the office grew out of gun violence hearings in City Council that found survivors and families of victims often don’t know where to turn after a violent crime occurs.
Councilmember Kenyatta Johnson, who sponsored the bill to create the position, says her deep roots in the city will be an asset. He said she “has a passion for addressing the issues and concerns of those families who have lost loved ones to gun violence — the mothers, the fathers — and most importantly the victims.”
Combs starts work Feb. 7.