Wednesday May 26th Take Action: "Ask Philadelphia To Stop Inflicting Violence On The Budget" #PeopleBailout

What's killing Philadelphians more than anything is the politcains pretending to care about our city. Our city like cities across the nation are being bailed out under the Biden Adminstration. Yet Philadelphia politics has decided not to address the current state of emergency with the bailout money. Instead our city decided to extend the money over a five year period. Why is that alarming to me?

Im a family community advocate because i know that families who work together are happier and have shared purpose. i know that we live in community that includes diversity that is often stigmatized for one reason or the other. i know that our families are vulnerable because our city is neglectful to some and supportive of others. if you don't have skin in the game then you are not included aka pay to play politics is killing Philadelphia families and communities.

Covid19 shutdowns demonstrates just how neglectful Philadelphia is towards vulnerable residents. Our schools were closed and have been struggling to reopen because of decade old neglected safety concerns. Community partners stepped up to provide learning hubs because the district was not able to support safe learning spaces??????? Some of the community partners had no prior training to address the crisis and those who may have had training didn't have the staff to support the need. i was on a zoom with parents and educators sharing how some educators were able to adapt to teaching online. What was noted on this zoom was the difference between how districts equipped and supported the families and staff.

The Biden Administration created the American Rescue plan to help our country bounce back from the shutdowns that crippled so much. The money fills gaps that were missing before covid shutdowns and if invested in the people would really stop the rise in hate and violence. Why is Philadelphia politicans deciding to hold on to the bailout money versus bailing the people out? We hear of hate and gun violence daily. We are in a state of emergency from the hate and gun violence crisis while our city puts funding away for their long term investments. Instead of being invested in our communities for the long term. Our city will continue the violence by not putting much needed funding into vioelnce prevention models that have proven track records. Shame on Philadelphia city council for being so careless.

INCREASE FUNDING FOR STREET OUTREACH PROGRAMS Programs like Cure Violence employ trusted community members to mediate conflicts, mentor young people, and much more. These outreach approaches have been successful across the country and are already working in Philadelphia. While total gun violence has increased steadily since 2014, areas in Philadelphia with the Cure Violence program have seen 30% reductions in shootings. With more funding these programs can expand and further reduce gun violence in our communities.

The Community Crisis Intervention Program is one of the main street outreach programs run by the Philadelphia Anti-Drug/Anti-Violence Network (PAAN). This program relies on credible messengers, but they are understaffed and under resourced by the city government.

EXPAND THE READI CHICAGO PILOT The Rapid Employment and Development Initiative (READI) works with young people who are highly at-risk for gun violence involvement and connects them to cognitive behavioral therapy, paid transitional jobs, and support services. The READI Chicago model saw early success of 40% reduction in shooting and homicide involvement for men involved in the program. Mayor Kenney’s current proposal only has $2.3 million for a READI pilot, which means many highly at-risk people won’t be able to participate in this transformative program. We need a significant investment in this program in the budget.

PROVIDE MORE FUNDING TO COMMUNITY ANTI-VIOLENCE INITIATIVES ON THE GROUND Last year the Mayor’s budget included $2.1 million for the targeted community investment grants (TCIGs) yet only approved 1 in 10 proposals and capped grants at $20,000. This means that programs cannot receive enough money to expand and many programs are not getting any funding In a survey this year, 88% of participants in the funded projects said that the programs made them feel safe in their communities, 96% of participants and 85% of grantees felt that TCIG gave them an opportunity to build more trusting relationships with neighbors and community members, 98% of participants would like to see more programs like this one, and 83% of grantees would lead future projects like this one. Despite the overwhelming popularity of this program, Mayor Kenney is only increasing funding for this year by $500,000. These community programs build trust, make people feel safe, and communities impacted want more funding. We need to significantly increase funding for these community programs. This investment is also based in science. Simply having 10 community organizations focused on public health solutions to violence can reduce murders by 9% and violent crime by 6%.

INCREASE FUNDING FOR PARKS AND RECREATION DEPARTMENT Parks and Recreation budget was cut by $13 million (20% budget cut) in last year’s budget and the new proposed budget doesn’t even restore the budget to 2020 levels. Even before last years budget, our Parks and Recreation Department needed much more funding. Philadelphia ranks 78th in park maintenance and 46th when it comes to programming per capita for the 100 most populous cities in the country. During the pandemic use of green spaces has more than doubled and we need a Parks budget that reflects the increased demand on city facilities and programs for young people This summer, the city government will give more money to the police department to guard parks and recreation centers without an increase to actually supporting the programs and staffing for recreation centers and dilapidated parks. This is horrible partnering because the there is no partnership with corrupt police, trust in the police is at an all time low.


The real solution to gun violence in our communities in not more police. We need to make parks and recreation centers safe havens for young people. We need more funding for programming, staff, and community liaisons who can make sure parks and recreation centers remain safe. The Waterloo park can serve as an example of hiring credible messengers or partnering community groups to make parks and recreation centers safe havens and to build community buy-in and ownership of parks. That is a long-term solution to make parks and communities safe.

CREATE A FULLY FUNDED AND INDEPENDENT CRISIS RESPONSE PROGRAM Mayor Kenney’s proposal for a co-responder program— which sends one police officer and one mental health professional to respond to mental health crises— is an improvement over sending only police, but years behind what many other cities are doing. The goal should be to remove police from mental health calls and only send mental health professionals. Currently, 2700 Philadelphia police officers have received the Crisis Intervention Team training needed to be a co-responder for mental health calls. The CIT training is only 40 hours, but that training is insufficient compared to the mental health professionals who have hundreds of hours of experience and training. Having police on the scene will also naturally escalate a situation. National leaders in CIT Training have acknowledged that “Every time a police officer goes out to a crisis situation, it’s going to escalate the person’s emotional state…their mere presence is stressful, and the person in crisis can become fearful and enter flight or fight.” The right answer is to remove police from the equation unless mental health professionals determine they need police back-up. Denver recently replaced its co-responder program with the Support Team Assisted Response (STAR) program, which removed police from the response. In 6 months, STAR has responded to roughly 1,400 calls and did not require police back-up once. It’s a waste of resources to send police on every call, but that is exactly what Mayor Kenney’s co-responder proposal does.

INCREASE FUNDING FOR TRAUMA VICTIM SERVICES Programs like the Every Murder is Real (EMIR) Healing Center help support families dealing with trauma related to gun violence. By providing counseling, therapy, case management, and wrap around services, these programs start to heal untreated trauma that can often lead to further cycles of violence Network of Neighbors is another community program funded by Philadelphia’s Department of Behavioral Health. The network is made up of trained community members who facilitate meetings and group discussions to help reduce stress and bolster peer connection and healthy coping at the community level. This program only received $282,500 in FY 2020. Much more funding could help train more Trauma Responders in neighborhoods that experience high levels of gun violence related trauma.

ACTION STEPS

SIGN UP TO SPEAK AT THESE BUDGET HEARINGS

City Council Members take these budget hearings seriously and we should too. We want everyone committed to our budget priorities to sign up to attend as many budget hearings as possible. We do encourage that only people in the Greater Philly area sign up for budget hearings.

To speak at a budget hearing you should call 215-686-3407 or email Budget.Hearings@phila.gov prior to the public testimony session you want to attend and submit the following information:

Full name

Callback telephone number where you can be reached
Identify the bill number or resolution number or numbers that will be addressed. (210322 for the budget)
Upcoming Meetings:
Public Testimony May 26, 3:00 pm
SIGN THE GRASSROOTS LAW PROJECT PETITION
We are using a smart petition that sends an email to every city council member when you sign the petition to let them know that another Philly area resident is calling on them to prioritize gun violence prevention in this year’s budget.