PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — City leaders met with South Philly residents in-person and remotely on Monday night for the first in a series of five open discussions about finding effective approaches to gun violence in their communities.
The series, called "Philadelphia Roadmap to Safer Communities," allows city leaders open the floor to attendees to get feedback and suggestions on residential goals for neighborhoods across Philadelphia.
Neighbors chimed in with their questions, observations and thoughts.
"The trouble is that young people have a lot of access to guns. I think we struggle the most just dealing with that," said one.
"It also seems like there's a lot that's just people getting into beefs with each other on Instagram and other things and don't seem to value their lives at all," said another.
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Then Kurt August, with the city’s Diversion and Deflection Office of Criminal Justice, opened up the floor up for ideas about how to address and target various problems at the root of the violence.
"Trying to figure out ways that we can kind of get people out of that small-world mentality, I think, is kind of an intervention we should try to explore,” August said.
One man said he works with young people in the area, and he talks with them about gun violence.
"We try to get the situation before they pick up a gun. Because once they have a gun in their hand, you can't pull that bullet back into the gun,” he said.
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One woman suggested a hands-on approach relating to employment.
"It seems to me that we know who these children are. It seems to me that we could get enough people involved in mentoring. And we could work with the community businesses to have some job shadowing and some opportunities for youngsters to see that there is a future for them."
Many others spoke out as well, suggesting more open dialogue between trusted neighbors and young people, providing jobs or educational opportunities to teens that they don’t have access to in their communities, repairing trust between law enforcement and the communities they serve, and giving young people their own outlet to share their concerns.
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The conversation continues in Germantown, North Philly, Nicetown and Crescentville, with the next four meetings, all from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.:
Germantown, March 14
New Journey Christian Center
1001 E. Chelten Ave. 19138
North Philly, March 22
Martin Luther King Recreational Center
2101-35 Cecil B. Moore Ave 19121
Nicetown, April 12
Nicetown CDC
4300 Germantown Ave. 19140
Crescentville, April 21
Lawncrest Recreational Center
6000 Rising Sun Ave. 19111
People interested in attending in person must first register online. Each location will allow up to 50 attendees.
Find more information about how to join the discussion on the Criminal Justice and Public Safety page of the city's website.