Today, the Daily News published a special report on the links between job creation and successful anti-violence efforts.
The stats in the section alone are startling:
*40 percent — almost half — of people in Philadelphia older than 15 were out of work and not collecting unemployment, census data shows.
*Each year, more than 8,200 city public school students drop out -- enough people to pack the Palestra. Over their lifetimes they miss out on more than $2 billion in income.
*One estimate (that of former Councilman Ed Schwartz, to be exact) says that more than 40 percent of the city budget, or $1.3 billion, is spent responding to crime.
But the point of the section is to say that connecting even some of the disconnected, out-of-work youth in our city to real jobs could help lower crime rates.
It's pretty clearly directed at the business community, which seems to be responsive. They recently launched a call for local employers to create 1,000 paid internships for youth.
So we're not talking about the big issues that obviously have to change to build a region that gets its young people to work -- tax reform or school reform, for example. We're talking about the on-the-ground programs now getting some kids connected to better lives.
Read the special report in our Jobs section -- and please share your thoughts here.