PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — A coalition of youth policy experts with the Kid’s Campaign has released a 48-page memo for the city’s two mayoral candidates, introducing strategies to address issues such as safety, quality of life and education — called “A Promise to 322,000 Futures.”
“Look, it's 18 years to raise a child. And we need to recognize it starts on Day One,” said Donna Cooper, executive director of Children First. “And we need to do a much better job.”
Cooper says the next mayor needs to understand that making Philly a safer city means investing in kids.
“That starts with expanding programs for kids. You know, we talked to adults today who say, ‘I used to be able to throw a rock from my house, to anywhere in my neighborhood, and there would be a program for me after school.’ That doesn't exist anymore.”
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The memos make suggestions such as boosting resources to end the cycle of poverty, cleaning and greening neighborhoods, investing in mental health services to stop cycles of crime, and better support of the police department, something parent and child advocate Maritza Guridy supports.
Guridy was once robbed at gunpoint in front of her home.
She says a top priority for the incoming mayor should be making sure kids “have a safe environment — and both in and outside of their schools, walking to school, walking from school, while in school, throughout their school year, in the summers.”
The memo also includes suggestions such as expanding the Safe Routes to School program, appointing school board members who agree to implement policies that open schools early and close them late, and reducing in-school arrests and recidivism rates.
Dontae Privette, director of community engagement for the Philadelphia Youth Sports Collaborative, says he’s working to increase accessibility for youth sports in the city.
“We need strong, strategic partnerships that's across the entire day, both in school but also building on what's happening in school and stretching out into the community through recreation spaces through other enrichment programs.”
Symbol Lai, Children First’s Philadelphia mobilization and policy director, admits the 48-page memo is packed, “but there's some stuff that can just be taken care of by, you know, organizing departments, making sure that their convening department stakeholders are convening with certain people, that they wish more collaboration, that are aligned.”