PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — When it comes to the gun violence crisis in Philadelphia, the Youth Empowerment Advancement Hangout, better known as YEAH Philly, is one group at the forefront fighting against it.
“So our organization really uplifts young people, ages 15 to 24, who are impacted directly by violence, who are caught in the cycle of violence, who live in West and Southwest Philadelphia. And we have a priority focus on those in the legal system who have violent charges against them,” said Kendra Van De Water, executive director and co-founder of YEAH Philly.
On any given day, she said, you can find them around the city fighting against the roots of gun violence through events like food giveaways, job and conflict resolution programs and more.
“Young people are working everywhere. They are on panels, they are tabling events, they work at our spaces, they are paid staff, they are paid wages, they get paid internships, and no decision is made at YEAH Philly without young people. So they lead and it's really just us as adults helping implement,” said Van De Water.
Part of their mission is not only intervening to get young people out of the justice system, “but also help their families thrive in the community.”
As part of that mission, their latest fight has been in Harrisburg for something you may not expect. “Philadelphia has this issue where thousands of kids cannot get their own birth certificates.”
Van De Water said this created a barrier to essential things like employment for many of their youth.
“If you are employed, you need your birth certificate. You need these vital documents to do all of these things, a passport–birth certificate. Kids cannot move forward in life if they do not have these documents. And that is why this is so important. Because we can't say, we want young people to get jobs and be productive and do all of these things, if we are not advocating for them to get the things that they need to do those things,” she explained.
She said it was a months-long fight with a lot of meetings and pleading their case to legislators. Part of the challenge was helping them to understand some of the unique challenges that youth in Philadelphia face.
“Not everybody has both parents advocating for them,” Van De Water said. “We're dealing with parents who are overworked, then grandparents raising kids. We're dealing with kids living with their friends. And so the family dynamic, and the structure just looks very different.”
In recent weeks, their advocacy led to change.
“So, the [Pennsylvania] Department of Health actually changed their regulations to implement all of the things that we asked for. If you are 16, and 17, you can get your own birth certificate on your own, thankfully, without parental consent. If you are in the juvenile legal system, if you are in the system at all, if you are on probation, if you are in foster care, if you're experiencing homelessness, they have a separate application and get your birth certificate easier, but also for free.”
Van De Water called the win transformational, not just for youth in Philadelphia, but across the state of Pennsylvania.
She says their group has found success through listening to the needs of young people, no matter their circumstances. The group was also recently named as a grantee of Joel Embiid’s In Memory of Arthur initiative. The NBA All-Star pledged a million dollars to YEAH Philly and four other organizations making tangible change in Philadelphia.
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“Our court program we piloted for almost two years, 65 young people who have violent charges against them in the legal system, who have been in the system, majority of them have multiple offenses been in the system for years and years, 71% of them were able to be in our program and not get re-arrested. When it comes to people who are arrested for things all the time, we have 46% of young people get out of the system completely,” Van De Water explained.
“All of this stems from loving on young people, giving them what they need, and being consistent and being a trusting adult. They learn how to ask for what they need, they need money, they need love, they need structure, they need certain discipline, and all of these things come from our program. So that's what we're doing. And I think a lot of it is the city is utilizing too many cops to do violence reduction work, and it's not working because we're not addressing those needs, those root causes of violence, which is really important.”
She hopes to see more of that from leaders in the city to help address Philly's gun violence problem.