PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Every night in February, clergy, church members and supporters use the power of connection to fight gun violence in the city. Taylor MADE Opportunities, a Philadelphia violence interruption and prevention nonprofit, launched its fourth annual Corners to Connections initiative on Saturday.
For those 28 nights, teams hit the corners of some of the roughest parts of the city to talk to men and women to connect them with opportunities and alternatives to violence. (MADE stands for mentoring, advocacy, development and Education.) The first group started at the corner of Broad Street and Erie Avenue.
This year, people who lost loved ones to gun violence, like Joan Ortiz, will join them to share their stories. Ortiz lost her daughter to gun violence in 2019. She was just 2 years old.
“We were home, and bullets just started to fly through the windows, through the doors, and I was holding her in my arms. I lost my baby in my arms. She was shot in the head, in my arms,” Ortiz said.
Angela Wade, lost her son to gun violence six years ago. She believes this is the real work that will change and shape the community for the better.
“In spite of my pain, we want to show you that it's still love, it's still hope and humanity,” Wade said. “My son won't come back here, but in his passing and in his loss there is so much purpose behind it.”
Corners to Connections is the brainchild of the Rev. G. Lamar Stewart, senior pastor of Taylor Memorial Baptist Church and Taylor MADE Opportunities founder.
“Chronic poverty will produce chronic violence over time,” Stewart said.
“We have created a space where churches can collaborate with us to end violence and to end poverty in the city of Philadelphia.”
Stewart says he wants people to see the impact this work can have.
“I'm hoping that as people see the brick and mortar, they will be able to say, ‘You know what? I know several churches — on the issue of poverty and on the issue of gun violence — that not only is preaching change and transformation from the pulpit, but that's showing up in our greatest times of need and bringing the resources and the opportunities right here to the streets.”
Employment partners like Temple University will also join the effort.
“We know from data that when people are working in sustainable wage jobs that they don't have time to do — you know, the street — you know, nonsense. They're committed to their job,” said Mike Robinson, director of hiring at the university.
The Rev. Julius Renwick, senior pastor, Mt. Ephraim Baptist Church, says last year they ran into a young man on Dauphin Street who was in the middle of a drug sale. He was an army veteran who couldn’t find a job.
“We had an employer with us who hired him on the spot, and the very next day, he got a job. He came dressed up, suited and booted. He was dressed up, and he got a job,” Renwick said.
The month also includes an employment and wellness fair, a trauma-informed healing circle for gun violence survivors, and a one-night community revival.