PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Community leaders huddled on Wednesday for a “peace summit” to discuss ways to cut back on gun violence and make this summer safe for kids and families in Northwest Philly neighborhoods.
More than 60 people gathered inside the P4 Hub at Wayne and Roberts avenues in Germantown, from community organizers and anti-gun violence advocates to Philly police officers and a representative from the district attorney’s office.
“What we did today was facilitate a conversation amongst these leaders,” said state Sen. Art Haywood, whose office organized the summit. Haywood says making a safer Northwest Philly in the summer is possible, especially if they focus on some problem spots.
“The areas where there are the most shootings which we identified — Chew and Chelten as well as Wister and Germantown [avenues] — those are not the only ones. Those are what we highlighted,” said Haywood.
Participants talked about events they were having or programs they were running — such as an effort to hire people at $20 an hour to clean 300 Northwest Philly blocks. “We have studies that demonstrate that blight contributes to gun violence,” said Haywood.
That’s the type of thing that Nasir Shawqi of Philadelphia Ceasefire — who Haywood describes as someone who “interrupts gun violence” — says he can share with the young people he tries to help.
“The people that are committing the gun violence, the people that are doing the shootings, my job is to take these resources and information and make sure they get it in their hands,” he said, “and they can use it in a proper manner.”
Joining the conversation on Zoom was Gregory Jackson, deputy director of the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention. Jackson discussed grants available to some of the community groups present. The DA’s office also shared information on local programs offering money.
Shawqi says the meeting was a valuable one. “We gathered a lot of good information, cultivated a lot of relationships,” he said.
“The most important part that I learned today [is that] we’re stronger together and not apart.”