Nutter to successor: curb youth violence

Mayor Nutter said Thursday that his successor must understand the importance of preventing youth violence if Philadelphia is to thrive.

"You know what year it is," he told a room crowded with educators, politicians, and youth outreach groups on Temple University's campus. "I will go. But the work, the effort, and the impact, must continue. Whoever comes next must understand how critically important, how critically vital, how impactful this work is."

The city has made some important progress, he noted: homicides are down, employment is up, and development is booming.

But, he stressed, much attention must be paid to keeping children safe. He said the city can work with community organizations and use grants earmarked for underserved communities to create a safety net for youth at risk of becoming victims or perpetrators of violence.

Of the 248 people killed in Philadelphia last year, 100 were young people, Nutter said. African American men and boys, he noted, are especially at risk.

Combating violence is "no longer about policing and arrests," he said, although he credited policing efforts in the city's crime-heavy neighborhoods.

Instead, he said, prevention - which includes a broader approach to improving youth safety - is key.

Nutter highlighted his administration's Youth Violence Prevention Collaborative, which was formed in late 2012 and focuses specifically on the 22d District. This area includes the neighborhoods that stretch west of Temple's campus, some of the city's most crime-ridden.

The district's homicide, poverty, and unemployment rates are among the highest in the city, and last year it had the highest incidence of shootings in Philadelphia. According to Nutter, the on-time graduation rate at its only public high school, Strawberry Mansion High School, is 36 percent.

But "the 22d District also has a long and rich history of community engagement and an excellent institution in Temple University," Nutter said. "So we worked with these strong partners to earn the respect of residents and create long-lasting and positive change."

And, he said, the city's extensive efforts in the 22d District - which include a summer jobs program, community service projects, and diversion programs for at-risk youth - "is what we think it will take" to address violence in the city at large.

The collaborative has raised $2.5 million in funding from private donors and federal grants, director Richard Greenwald said.

"I see this sustaining itself," Greenwald said in an interview Thursday. "The city's going to try to figure out a way to build into its budget ongoing youth violence prevention."

Nutter, at Temple, said as much.

"Since the crisis of violence is a true public health epidemic, there is no reason why we cannot make permanent our response to violence," he said. "We've become a great city, and we've begun the process of addressing the issues that are holding us back. It cannot end here."