Daily News | Philly’s gun-violence spending is surging, but many funded programs lack clear goals to show progress
, including the Group Violence Intervention program, which started in 2020, and several others. How successful they are is hard to determine, according to Rhynhart and others. Despite what her office described as repeated efforts, the city has not provided metrics or goals for many of the programs and organizations that get funded. She said this makes it hard to tell if a program’s methods are successful and worth the money.
“It’s the new hustle,” said Johnson, 65, who annually walks to Washington, D.C. to highlight the city’s crisis. “Everybody can get a grant, everybody gets paid, and nobody does anything on the street. The only way you’re going to find out what’s working is with the data, and whenever you ask Erica Atwood for the data on who they’re funding, she says, ‘I’ll get back to you.’ She’s been saying that forever.
READI identifies those at greatest risk of shooting a gun, and relies on outreach workers, mediators and community services to change behaviors. In Philadelphia, the READI program will aim to serve 100 people considered to be the most difficult to reach and the most likely to become shooters or victims, according to Atwood. They will receive workforce training and behavioral health and housing services from four social service organizations that the city is in the process of hiring. Philadelphia, she said, will be the first city to replicate the READI program.
“We have no choice but to make the effort. People are suffering and we have the resources. Maybe it’s not enough resources, we don’t know,” Kenney said at an Aug. 10 meeting at City Hall with federal officials about coordinating their antigun violence efforts.Atwood said Philadelphia’s efforts are being undermined by the unchecked flow of illegal guns into neighborhoods.
In 2020, 173 people took advantage of social services, 446 in 2021, and 112 through August, according to city numbers. Of the 17,047 people contacted by CCIP workers last fiscal year, only 1,978 received social service referrals and,552 had their disputes de-escalated with mediation, according to data provided to The Inquirer by the city.In the meantime, despite slow progress on city antiviolence programs, some community members are willing to put in the work to help neighborhoods suffering from gun violence.
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