Reimagining safety in Philly’s communities

Philadelphia has been on the verge of an epidemic for the past few months as the homicide rate continues to rise in the city almost daily.

It’s a grim outlook, especially as animosity and fear carried over from the previous year still lingers between law enforcement and Black and brown people.

And with just two months remaining in the year, it’s understandable to question if Philadelphians truly, or if they ever, feel safe in the city.

Last October, members of the Amistad Law Project, Juntos, VietLead, Movement Alliance Project, and other nonprofits within the city came together to answer the question, “what do communities need to feel safe.”

From October to December of 2020, 1,345 Philadelphia residents responded to the Safety We Can Feel Survey.

Here are some key findings:

• The police are not keeping us safe
  • 75% of respondents think the police are bad at preventing violence in their neighborhood.
  • Of those that had to call the police for help this year, the majority (59%) said the police were unhelpful. Only 10 percent thought they were ‘very helpful’.
• The city is not prioritizing key services for funding
  • Affordable housing, mental health services, and public schools & community colleges were the essential services respondents said the city prioritized the LEAST for funding. Community violence prevention, drug treatment, and youth recreational programming were also frequent choices.
• People overwhelmingly support reallocating police funding towards community services
  • Respondents wanted to see more funding going towards centers for mental health and addiction recovery (58%), housing and stability assistance (57%), and education and youth programming (53%) as approaches to addressing violence.
  • 96% of respondents support the decision to reallocate funds from policing to these programs and services.

Read the rest of the story here…

Dominique “Peak” Johnson is a North Philadelphia journalist and is one of the founding editors of the North Philly Metropolis. Currently, Peak practices kickboxing, freelances for Generocity.org, and occasionally tweets about “The Walking Dead.” Click here to learn more about Peak.