I've got an idea. In the middle of the worst wave of homicides to come over the city since the end of the crack-fueled epidemic of the 80s, let's cut funding for a program modeled on one that has been directly attributed to creating a "miracle" in another city:
FOR EIGHT YEARS, the Youth Violence Reduction Partnership has worked with troubled kids in some of Philadelphia's most dangerous neighborhoods, cutting murder rates among its target population and prompting calls to expand the program.
But something odd happened in the frenzied negotiations over the state budget last month:
Funding for the partnership disappeared.
...
The partnership is modeled after a Boston program which achieved such a dramatic drop in the city's homicide rate that it was widely called "the Boston miracle."
The program's premise is that those most likely to kill or be killed in cities are an identifiable group of young people with a history of brushes with the law.
The YVRP identifies at-risk people between ages 14 and 24 and assigns each a street worker who works with police and probation officers to try to keep them out of trouble and connect them with education, employment and other positive influences.
In the 24th and 25th Police Districts - in eastern North Philadelphia, Kensington and Port Richmond - where the partnership has worked longest, youth homicides have dropped by more than 40 percent.
Sigh.
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Sylvester Johnson , Philly's Top Cop is joining with civic leaders in an effort to recruit 10,000 black men to fight crime in Philadelphia's toughest hoods.
Dubbed " A Call To Action : 10,000 men - Its A New Day " , the effort will begin October 21.
Posted by Jasper Zeigler Jr | September 12, 2007 1:12 PM