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Allentown program to reduce gun violence in city gets boost from state

Morning Call - 9/13/2019

Sep. 13--An Allentown anti-violence program that has shown promise in some places will get more money to address gun violence in the city, state officials announced Thursday.

Promise Neighborhoods of the Lehigh Valley will receive about $150,000 from the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency to run a Zero Youth Violence program that had its funding cut off in July. The grant will cover the salaries of a coordinator and outreach workers, training, technical assistance and community events, according to a joint news release from Republican state Sen. Pat Browne and Democratic state Reps. Mike Schlossberg and Peter Schweyer, who all worked to secure the funding.

The announcement comes during a particularly violent summer in Allentown, with 33 people shot in the city since June 1, including a 33-year-old woman who died.

"A safer Allentown doesn't happen from the top down, it happens from neighborhoods and communities coming together, and it's on us to make sure they have the resources they need," Schweyer said in the release.

The Zero Youth Violence program was stymied June 30, when the $150,000 grant from its first year expired, even though only about $37,000 had been used. The organization sent staff home and was forced to rely on volunteers for half of July. Some programming and a part-time position were restored after The Morning Call asked the state about the grant's expiration.

The city, which passed the grant to the nonprofit Promise Neighborhoods to implement the program, will get the unspent money from the original grant -- about $60,000 -- to use by Dec. 31, spokesman Mike Moore said Thursday. The program is operating, he said, though the state had not put its promise into writing.

Hasshan Batts, the director of operations for Promise Neighborhoods, couldn't be reached for comment on Thursday.

The goal is to use the money to reduce gun violence in the city, the lawmakers said in their release.

Zero Youth Violence hopes to do that through a model called Cure Violence, which was developed by an epidemiologist and approaches crime with methods similar to those doctors use to stem infectious diseases. It has shown promise in reducing the risk of violence in cities across the country including Philadelphia, New York and Baltimore.

"Having the ability to directly engage with young people in the city to provide direction and support in an effort to guide them away from unsafe situations and onto a productive path to be successful now and later in life is vital," Browne said in the release. The effort, he added, is intended "to provide a safer place for all our citizens to live and work."

Through the program, outreach workers form relationships in the community and help young people tear away from gangs and violence. Zero Youth Violence has worked with researchers in Chicago to lower the number of violent incidents in Allentown.

Pas Simpson, who heads Zero Youth Violence, told The Morning Call in June that the program reaped rewards in its first year. He relayed the story of a man who got robbed and initially sought revenge. Having served time for killing someone, the man's first reaction was to resort to violence. Simpson said he had been working with the man, using the Cure Violence approach. Instead of retaliating, the man picked up the phone and called Simpson, who was able to talk him out of it. It felt like a victory, he said.

In addition to Zero Youth Violence, efforts are underway to address the lure of gangs with elementary school students in Allentown. The Lehigh County district attorney's office announced this summer that it will roll out a Gang Resistance Education And Training (GREAT) program at Central and McKinley elementary schools in October. The program will put law enforcement officials in the schools to teach lessons that steer kids from gang involvement and violence.

Allentown, its police force and community groups are actively engaged in making the city safer, Schlossberg said in the release. The new grant, he said, reflects the "desire to attack the criminals who want to drag this city back into a darker time."

Morning Call reporter Michelle Merlin can be reached at 610-820-6533 or at mmerlin@mcall.com.

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