Winning the “fight” on youth violence

Over the past several weeks, youth violence has grabbed the headlines in Norristown. We haven’t had a dramatic incident, like the cold-blooded and calculated murder of a 16-year-old girl in an alley, like we had last year. On the other hand, it has been chilling to read about 12- and 14-year-olds getting into fights resulting in a stabbing.

I have remained silent, until now because I thought it was important to hear other voices on youth violence. I believe in Norristown, so-called leaders cannot compete for the microphone, or at least we should not. We need to amplify each other’s voices, and magnify each other’s efforts.

Police Can’t Do It All

I want to commend Norristown Police Chief Russell Bono for speaking out. His comments in a recent Times Herald column relay the position that the police cannot do it all, they need the community. As one expert said last year, communities are learning we cannot arrest our way out of this situation of violence.

Partners Must Build and Sustain Programs

Unlike some leaders, I have promoted what experts call evidence-based programming. In brief, the rates of contact with the criminal justice system among minority youth dictate we do more than demand parents raise kids, or kids should go to church. Research has shown even when a kid is not religious, or comes from a broken home, tutoring or mentoring programs, done consistently and over time, has positive outcomes on at-risk youth. Norristown has lacked capacity and or consistency with such programs. We know now, better than ever, how to target the kids most at-risk of getting caught in the criminal justice system. We can help them avoid incarceration with proven programs that work. But we can’t wait for the government grant or the big donor’s gift. We have to be willing to start now, with what we have and prove we can stick with it.

We Have to Try All Ideas Now

This year, Unity Day – held annually at MLK Park – reached more youth than it has in years. We have to keep up doing such activities. Weed & Seed just hosted a community forum to talk about really tackling the tensions between youth and police. And the Weed & Seed Chair, Rochelle Culbreath, has challenged other institutions to join Weed & Seed in this work. The Police Athletic League remains a consistent place of youth after-school programming. And there are volunteers who are willing to open it up late at night. We still need church, school, and business leaders to offer their ideas and programs. And we need our police department to redouble its efforts.

Let’s get every program doing everything it can do right now.

Rather than fighting over money, or who gets to do what, if everyone will do what they can, and share ideas, information and even resources, we can focus on the real enemy – the violence that claims too many young people in Norristown.