While gun violence has gone down in Philadelphia, it’s also gotten younger. On June 11, a symposium organized by Intercultural
Family Services aims to address that problem.
By Denise Clay-Murray
A few months ago, I was asked to write a book designed to make gun violence — something children shouldn’t have to understand — easier for them to understand.
When I wrote the book, which is entitled “To Arm Or Disarm: Understanding Gun Violence,” I took an historical view of gun violence around the world, how many guns are out there, how young people are impacted by gun violence, and how young people can make an impact by stopping it.
I also focused a lot on Philadelphia, and as it turns out, focusing on young people in Philadelphia when it comes to gun violence makes a lot of sense, said Javi Alvarado, chief executive officer of Intercultural Family Services.
Because the nonprofit human service agency does a lot of work with children, it noticed that while gun violence overall was taking a dip, those involved in it are getting younger, Alvarado said.
“All the headlines talk about the decline in overall gun violence here in Philadelphia,” he said. “I think the last number I saw homicides had dropped by 36% in 24 compared to 2023 which is, as I understand it, reaching some of the lowest levels in a decade. And the shootings have decreased as well by a significant percentage. But Philadelphia continues to grapple with gun violence, particularly amongst our youth population. So, while overall shootings and homicides have declined significantly, young people remain disproportionately affected.”
To find out why that might be, Intercultural Family Services has put together the HOPE Symposium on Gun Violence Prevention. On Wednesday, June 11, everyone from law enforcement to those victimized by gun violence to those trying to stop the victimization will gather at Temple University’s Howard Gittis Center to help attendees move from awareness to action.
It’s budget time here in Philadelphia and among the things that people are asking Councilmembers to consider putting more money into things that would prevent gun violence, such as investing in the community organizations that are working directly with young people to prevent gun violence.
While the city deserves praise for being proactive and innovative, the people doing this work can always use more resources, Alvarado said.
“One of the things that I think of right away is that there’s a number of frontline community organizations out there doing the hard work, and they’re responsible for some of the decreases that we see in gun violence,” he said. “So, increasing the funding for community-based organizations is going to be very important. Critical. Supporting local community organizations that focus on violence prevention, mentorship, conflict resolution, all of that is going to be very important.”
The SUN is one of the event’s media partners. I bring this up because one of the subjects that will be discussed is how the media covers gun violence. Since many of the fights that do lead to gun violence begin on social media, a lot of attention will also be paid to that.
Symposium participants will also hear from victims themselves, which is important.
If you’re interested in attending the HOPE Symposium, you can register at; www.IFSHomeSymposium.eventbrite.com. There’s no cost for what’s going to a great set of discussions on a problem Philadelphia has been grappling with for a while.
Disclaimer: The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in the article belong solely to the author, and not necessarily to the author’s employer, The Philadelphia Sunday SUN, the author’s organization, committee or other group or individual.
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