COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA JOINT COMMITTEES ON PUBLIC SAFETY AND PUBLIC HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES - - - Overbrook High School Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Thursday, September 21, 2006 7:00 p.m. - - - PRESENT: COUNCILWOMAN DONNA REED MILLER COUNCILWOMAN MARIAN B. TASCO COUNCILMAN FRANK RIZZO RESOLUTION 051155 - Resolution authorizing the Council Committees on Public Safety and Public Health and Human Services to hold hearings regarding the findings and recommendations of the "Blueprint for a Safer Philadelphia," and further authorizing the Committees to seek advice and recommendations on how Philadelphia can reduce and eliminate crime affecting the City's youth. - - - V A R A L L O Incorporated Litigation Support Services Eleven Penn Center 1835 Market Street, Suite 600 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103 215.561.2220 215.567.2670 2
Good evening, everyone. My name is Marian Tasco. I am the Councilwoman from the Ninth Councilmanic District, and for all of you who live in West Philadelphia, that is West Oak Lane, East Oak Lane, Olney, up the Boulevard towards Rising Sun Avenue, a little bit of East Mount Airy, Logan and a little bit of Oxford Circle, too. So quite a diverse district. But we're pleased to be here tonight to share with you our thoughts and hear from you about the Blueprint for a Safer Philadelphia. According to yesterday's Philadelphia Inquirer and a recent FBI report, Philadelphia was No. 1 among big cities for violent crime. Last year violent crime was up 3.4 percent, which includes a 15 percent increase in homicides. Considering this information, we not only have a serious crime issue in our City but a major public health crisis. 3 9/21/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 Something has to be done about the violence that is escalating in our City, about the number of guns in our City and about the willingness of our youth to resort to handguns to address their problems. That something has started and continues today as we hold this Joint Public Health and Human Services Committee hearing, not in City Hall but here in the community, to discuss this epidemic of violence and how the Blueprint for a Safer Philadelphia can address this problem. Tonight is another step in our process of solving this problem, and I hope that all of you will join us in Harrisburg on Tuesday, September the 28th --
-- 26th as we rally and address the members of the Pennsylvania General Assembly. Our State Representatives need to hear your voices 4 9/21/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 and see your presence in Harrisburg so that they know that we are serious in our efforts to end the violence, the violent problems in Philadelphia throughout our state. I'd like to thank my fellow Councilmembers for their attention, their attendance and say that to be supportive and helpful of the Blueprint for a Safer Philadelphia, which we will let our State Representative Dwight Evans talk to you about, we held hearings in City Council on the Blueprint to discuss what is the Blueprint and how can the community be engaged in the entire program. Then we thought about taking it to the community, taking the Blueprint message across the City of Philadelphia. We had our first hearing at Germantown High School. We've gone to Gratz High School. REPRESENTATIVE EVANS: Olney.
Olney High School. REPRESENTATIVE EVANS: South 5 9/21/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 Philly.
South Philadelphia High School, and tonight we are here in Overbrook. We will go to West Philadelphia. On October the 2nd, we will be at West Philadelphia High School at 47th and Walnut Street. On Thursday, October 19th, we'll be at Strawberry Mansion High School, and on Wednesday, October 25th, we'll be at Bartram Main High School, 67th and Elmwood Avenue. It is our effort to engage the community in the dialogue about what can we do collectively as a community to help stem the tide of violence, what kind of programs can we develop and deliver to the communities to serve as an alternative to young people being engaged in violent activities. We have a panel tonight of individuals who are engaged and have been engaged from the beginning with the Blueprint for a Safer Philadelphia. Before I introduce them, though, I would 6 9/21/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 like to acknowledge my Council colleagues, and first I'll call on Councilwoman Donna Reed Miller, ask her to have some remarks. She is the Chair of the Public Safety Committee, and we have Councilman Rizzo, who is a member of the Health and Human Services Committee and Public Safety Committee. So Councilwoman Miller, she is co-chairing this with me. I chair the Public Health and Human Services Committee. The Public Safety Committee and my committee sponsored the hearings in Council and are the sponsors of these community hearings. Councilwoman Miller.
Thank you. Thank you, Councilwoman Tasco. My remarks will be brief. As the Councilwoman stated, I chair Public Safety and co-chair Health and Human Services and I am from the Eighth Council District, which is the northwest section 24 of Philadelphia, and I go from Lehigh all the way up to the top of Chestnut Hill. 7 9/21/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 And so I service Logan, Nicetown, Tioga, Germantown, East and West Mount Airy, Chestnut Hill and another small part of Logan on the other side where the homes have sunk. We've actually been taking these hearings out into the neighborhoods through having these hearings in schools, and we think it's important that you hear about the Blueprint, but also that we have input and comments from our constituency, from our citizens across the City. Everybody in this City right now is really concerned about the violence. And not just in Philadelphia. Actually, it's across the country. Everywhere you go. I used to go to my husband's small town in North Carolina and we always went in June, and the headlines in the newspaper was about the high school graduation. Well, that was 20 years ago. Now they have information in there about crime statistics, town 8 9/21/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 watch. So it's changed. It's changing. The culture of our neighborhoods are changing across this nation. So tonight I'm happy to be here. I want to welcome you and thank you for coming out to these hearings. There's lots of information that we have to share, and we're anxious to hear from you also. Thank you.
Thank you very much. Councilman Rizzo has been with us on all of our hearings across the City, and we certainly appreciate it. He is a Councilman at-large, and we certainly appreciate his attention.
Thank you, Councilwoman Marian Tasco. It's easy to describe what I do. I'm an at-large member, so I have the entire City. I don't have to worry about boundaries, but we work very closely with our colleagues, our District 9 9/21/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 Council people, and I'm really here tonight to show you that I'm supporting your community and to lend my support to my colleagues, and thank Dwight Evans, because if there's ever been a State Rep, an individual that has cared more about this issue, I don't know where they may be. Dwight is a good friend to me and a good friend to you, and hopefully we can get this issue under control. Something has to get better. It's to the point where, like Councilwoman Donna Reed Miller just said, our City is changing and we can't let it change and get worse, because people just won't stay here. They'll just continue to leave and leave and leave, and I think eventually crime will follow them wherever they go if we don't find a resolution to this issue. So thank you, Dwight, Marian and Donna, for having me here this evening, and I think we'll have a good evening at this. 10 9/21/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155
Let me say that Councilman Juan Ramos wanted to be here, but, as you know, the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce is meeting in Philadelphia. They brought their entire worldwide convention here, and he's part of the host committee and he could not come, but he has also traveled with us throughout the City to listen to the concerns of the community. Let me thank the principal for opening up this wonderful high school. (Applause.)
Overbrook is truly beautiful. It's clean, and we said they just didn't clean it for us tonight. You can tell the school is really clean. So thank you so much, and we thank the School District for being supportive. Stand up and let us say thank you. (Applause.)
And entering the room is State Representative 11 9/21/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 Louise Bishop Williams. (Applause.)
So thank you so much for coming, State Representative. First before we open with the panel, I have to have the resolution read so you'll know officially for the record, because all of our hearings are being recorded by our stenographer, who works for us in City Council. So she was there today and she's always here with us. Thank you so much for coming out. I'd like to thank the staff of various Councilpeople and Tim Spritzer, who is working with State Representative Dwight Evans, for their efforts in pulling this together. Derek Green from my staff will read the resolution.
Resolution No. 23 051155, resolution authorizing the Council Committees on Public Safety and Public Health and Human Services to hold 12 9/21/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 hearings regarding the findings and recommendations of the "Blueprint for a Safer Philadelphia," and further authorizing the Committees to seek advice and recommendations on how Philadelphia can reduce and eliminate crime affecting the City's youth.
Thank you very much. In 1999 when there was a Mayor's election, Dwight Evans was a candidate for Mayor, and Dwight Evans, in spite of having a wonderful story to tell about his leadership in the West Oak Lane area and revitalizing Ogontz Avenue and the surrounding community, I was in his ear about not telling that story, but you want to know what his message was? His message was about guns and violence, and everybody kept saying, Why are you talking about guns and violence? He said, That is the number one issue in this country. That was in 1999. Now, he did 13 9/21/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 not win the seat, but here we are in 2006 talking about what? The number one issue in this country, guns and violence. He has taken this issue on from the beginning, from 1999 and prior to that. He has worked in Harrisburg to try to change legislation, along with Councilwoman Miller and Councilman Clarke, who are the leaders in City Council on trying to change the gun laws to give us control over guns in Philadelphia. He has with the Blueprint of Philadelphia, with the DA's office, has taken leadership to bring together all of the organizations involved in programs to help children, the police. And he'll outline all of that. I don't want to tell his story, but has been the leader in bringing together those of us so that we can find solutions to the Blueprint, including engaging Dr. Deborah Prothrow-Stith out of Harvard, who is a medical doctor. She began to look at the 14 9/21/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 whole issue of violence as a health issue. And we've had many, many meetings and came up with the Blueprint, and to the tune of million plus, which he 6 will tell you, he has brought dollars 7 into the City to fund and support 8 programs that are geared to young people 9 to divert them from the arena of 10 violence. 11 Dwight will speak to us, and 12 then we will have Alicia Jackson. Dwight 13 will introduce her after he ends his 14 presentation and give you her story. She 15 is head of MEE Productions and she is the 16 one who runs the advertising and runs the Blueprint program and will share that with you. Archye Leacock is supposed to come. He's not here yet. He may come. And then we have Laura Lawrence from CHOICE, these individuals who have come to share their story. After they make their presentation, we want to hear from you, what is it do you think you need in 15 9/21/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 your community to help stem the tide, what are some solutions you have and how we can be engaged to help you. So first let me introduce you to State Representative Dwight Evans. He is from the northern part of the City, Ogontz. He also represents part of Olney and Lawncrest. My district overlaps with his district. He has, again, like I said, been a leader in this issue, along with many, many, many other wonderful things he has done. He is Chair of the Appropriations Committee, and, of course, he has been extremely resourceful in helping those of us who are running programs or doing economic development in our districts. He uses his office and his power to make a difference, and you will see that difference throughout the City of Philadelphia. So let me introduce Dwight Evans. ) REPRESENTATIVE EVANS: I'd like 16 9/21/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 to thank Councilwoman Marian Tasco and I'd like to thank Councilwoman Donna Reed Miller and I'd like to thank Councilman Frank Rizzo, as well as Councilman Juan Ramos. The reason I want to thank them, because you have to understand, folks. These folks, they're at City Council today and they have -- I want you to understand this journey. This has been a journey. We started out, as both Councilpeople said, we started out at Germantown High School, then we went to Olney, then we went to South Philly and then we went to Gratz. It's not an accident that we chose the high schools to go to. It's not an accident that we chose these high schools to go to.
And we chose these high schools because there is a direct connection towards the future of the City of Philadelphia and education. There's a direct connection between the future of Philadelphia and education. Because when we talk about the future, we talk about education. 17 9/21/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 The Councilwomen, both of them, I'm going to give really seriously -- because this is a lot, and when we first started talking to Marian and Donna Reed Miller about this idea of going from high school to high school, they did not hesitate. They knew how important this is, because there's no city in the country which has fundamentally figured out how to attack this question. But this is what we have tried to do, and I want to put this in context, and Alicia will talk about kind of the technical thing. Let me just tell you how this came about. In 2004, a young man, 10 years old, Faheem Thomas-Childs, in the right place, not the wrong place, on his way to school, 90 rounds, 90 rounds shot. He unfortunately got killed. He got killed. And in April of 2004, Jerry Mondesire, along with Representative Jewell Williams and a number of other organizations, organized the march of like 12,000 people 18 9/21/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 showed up. Now, you know, we have marched and marched and marched, and all that is great and that's a part of it, but the question everybody said is, What exactly are we going to do? Well, I met Dr. Stith, and she had this concept of using a public health approach, same way like with cigarettes and you try to change people's behavior. Well, we met for almost a year and a half. S. Attorney, working with the State Attorney. Alicia "T," who will describe her organization, kind of went out and did focus groups, and we put together what you call -- we're organizing what we call primary, secondary, tertiary. Primary is investing on the front end. It's a ten-year initiative, 19 9/21/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 and the initiative is specifically targeted to reducing youth homicides by 2016. Not reducing; eliminating. But during the way, I'm going to tell you other things happened. Councilwoman Marian Tasco described to you money. It's really like $28 million in three years. I mean, you name it, we fund an awful lot of initiatives, from Mothers in Charge to -- I mean, there's a whole list they can talk about. But let me tell you what else happened. What else happened, with people like Representative Louise Bishop, John Myers and Jewell Williams, we got together in Harrisburg. We did this on two tracks. We got together in Harrisburg and we forced the process to have something what you call a Committee on the Whole. The only other time that this ever happened was, it happened around property tax. So come Tuesday -- and you heard the Councilperson talk 20 9/21/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 about -- there will be an all-day discussion about how to make Pennsylvania a safer place. There are like 94 different proposals that are in the legislature, and we will be voting on Tuesday about what kind of tools. For example, should Philadelphia get the power back to regulate guns, which is something Donna Reed Miller and Darrell Clarke talk about. Should there be only sales of one gun a month, things of that nature. So for the first time, simultaneously we're going to be discussing gun policy. We're going to be discussing if the City should hire more police. Council has put in like 100 additional police officers. The Governor announced an initiative of providing another 100 police officers and then paying money, which Councilman Rizzo worked on, and moving local police officers off of the highway so that they can concentrate on that, and that's 21 9/21/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 something we're paying for. And then Speaker Perzel came out with an initiative of spending almost $400 million to provide 10,000 -- this is statewide now -- 10,000 additional police officers. Now, I said a lot to you.
I talked to you about Governor Rendell. I talked to you about Speaker Perzel. But you know why this happened? This happened because of you, with the things that the Councilpeople are doing, in a sense, door by door, neighborhood by neighborhood. It's building from the bottom up. That is what the Blueprint is. The Blueprint is Overbrook. The Blueprint is West Philly. The Blueprint is Microsoft. All of those schools are about changing the environment, changing the behavior. That's what we're working on. And we're working on it, when you think about it, we're working on it neighborhood by neighborhood. We're not working on it from the top down. We're 22 9/21/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 working on it from the bottom up. In addition, what we did over the summer, Jim Roebuck, Jewell Williams, Harold James, John Myers and a group of us have been going on what you call listening tours. We did one in South Philly. We did one in West Philly. So we have been out there kind of going to the street. In addition to the money, we've been going to the street, and we've been trying to solicit people to join this movement, because that's what this is, to join this movement. We're asking you to stand up with us in every way you can think of and be a part of -- this is a movement, and if we're going to take control, it's going to start house by house, block by block. It cannot be something that starts from the top. It has to be from the bottom up. That's what this is about. And I want to, on a personal note, thank both of these Councilpeople and Rizzo seriously, because they don't 23 9/21/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 just have their own districts that they have to attend to, but they are out here tonight. And this is what we do. We kind of go to the schools, we open it up, we look for suggestions and then we tinker. You give us suggestions; we make adjustments in the Blueprint. People tell us things, we take that information back. So I want you to understand that we are committed. The last thing I want to say before I introduce Alicia, today a group of legislators, Harold James, Josh Shapiro -- you don't know these names -- Mike Gerber, we were in the suburbs. We went to Montgomery County. We met with the Police Chief of the suburbs. We met with the Police Chief, and we did a survey, and the survey we did -- we only did it in Bucks, Delaware, Chester, and the survey was 94 percent white, 94 percent white, six percent African-American, and 57 percent of the poll was republicans. The numbers 24 9/21/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 overwhelmingly, 88 percent of the people surveyed in the suburbs, say safety and security is a very serious issue, 88 percent in the suburbs. Eighty-eight percent was for banning assault weapons, 88 percent was one gun a month, 88 percent was for giving Philadelphia back. So where people view this as only a Philadelphia problem, a black problem, a poor problem -- I share with you we were at the Marriott today. This is not a problem that's just limited to the City. Now, you may only read about it in the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Tribune and the Inquirer here, but I'm letting you know, at 8 o'clock this morning we were at the Marriott, a group of legislators, meeting with the police officers of that. I'm just letting you know. So what we're trying to do is organize the entire region. We're trying to organize a movement. And there's always a lot of people who tell us what 25 9/21/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 is not possible. Not to tell you from just visiting these meetings. Folks, I know you care, and we care. That's why we're here tonight. We know you care, and we care. I won't forget my colleague, Representative Louise Bishop, who has been using her airwaves. I've been on her program so much, I guess I could get a little bit of money, co-chair her program a little bit. But she's been on the airwaves talking about this on a regular basis.
So I'd like to have Alicia stand up and talk about the specifics, and particularly thank the Councilpeople. Alicia.
Well, good evening, everyone. How is everybody doing tonight? AUDIENCE: Good.
Well, I'm here. That's a good thing. We echo the sentiments of 9/21/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 thanking the Councilpersons here, Marian Tasco, Donna Reed Miller. I mean, it's outstanding that they would actually again engage this kind of forum and bring it to you, which is a philosophy that we at MEE Production always hold. And I'll talk about MEE Production, as well as what we're doing as a part of this movement the Representative just talked about, but what's most important -- and I think again we cannot say it enough -- that Representative Evans has really taken the initiative to step out in front of this issue of violence in Philadelphia. That's monumental. I mean, that's something that has to be acknowledged, has to be recognized and has to be -- we have to thank him for that, because, again, it's important work that these legislators and Council folk are actually doing as we look to tackle this issue. As he introduced me, I am Alicia Jackson with MEE Production. I 27 9/21/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 think I was introduced as the head, and I appreciate that, but Ivan Juzang is actually the President. I'm one of the Senior Vice-Presidents, as well as the Project Manager for the Blueprint for a Safer Philadelphia. Our working philosophy as a communications company, which is what we do -- we actually sit down and develop and deliver messages -- is to always include the audience. Our process is a "by" and "for" process. When we were engaged and Representative Evans had no idea as to who we were, because a lot of our work is national, not necessarily here in Philadelphia, we presented him a philosophy that Dr. Stith was talking about, actually trying to look at this from a public health prevention standpoint, and he bought into that philosophy. This is a very different approach than what is actually being touted here in Philadelphia with a lot of 28 9/21/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 the dollars. You're actually hearing a lot about a criminal justice approach, as he talked about, with the police officers, the District Attorney's office. What he's trying to do is broaden that perspective and include something, again, that is very different but yet very successful in other places. We need to change our behavior around violence. We need to talk about that. We need to look at that from a prevention standpoint. So as I talk about what we do at MEE Production, we're talking about changing behavior. We're talking about raising the awareness and providing a level of education to the community around preventing violence. Not responding to violence, but preventing violence. So as a communications company, we were brought in to develop messages that would raise that level of awareness, as well as provide that level of education with reference to changing our 29 9/21/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 behavior around violence. As a part of our process, it was important to us to understand what was going on in the community. " If we're going to do something for an audience, it has to be by that audience. With that in mind, we did our research. We went into the community. We talked to young people, we talked to parents, and we talked to youth service providers about the issue of youth violence here in Philadelphia and what they thought about that issue. As a result, we came out with a documentary that is available, along with a report that is available to anyone who wants it, and it's free. And what I'd like to say here, because I've recognized one of the participants, she's right here in the audience and she can validate that she gave her opinion with reference to this issue, very vocal and had some wonderful comments, and she is highlighted. She's 30 9/21/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 a superstar in this documentary. Thank you so much. So, again, we included the community and we have a community representative here.
With reference to the research, the data that was collected, the most important messages that came out of that extensive research -- and that was over ten focus groups citywide -- was that as we heard earlier, education is the focus. Education is going to be the alternative. Education is going to be the preventive measure that we need to use in order to combat violence, in order to, if you will, as the Representative articulated, to actually eradicate violence by 2016. Education is the key. What was also important in this research is that young people actually believed that education was important and they articulated that they needed to be getting a good education. They also articulated that they're not getting the 31 9/21/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 education that they think they deserve. We heard that. It is important that we as adults get involved in that process. They also articulated that they wanted our involvement. Unlike what we believe and what we hear, young people want adult involvement and they ask for that. Another key finding that was most important here, because as we look at this issue, we don't want to place blame anywhere. We don't specifically want to place blame on parents. We oftentimes resort and look at the parent when we look at young people's behavior. Parents are living in a stressed environment. They need help. They articulated that to us. They said they want to do right by their children. They want to have the resources that they need to help raise and develop their children. So what we heard from parents was that they need assistance. We need to be assisting our parents with the 32 9/21/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 rearing of these children. What does that ultimately mean is that we as adults have to get involved in this process, whether we're parents or not. We have to be involved in rearing our children. So ultimately as we looked at those key messages, we moved forward to do what we do best, which is develop a social marketing campaign. The social marketing campaign is entitled the Blueprint for a Safer Philadelphia. Hopefully you've heard radio ads over the last year talking about these kinds of issues, parent involvement, neighbors talking about how they need to get to know children on their block, young people saying that, hey, we're doing some wonderful things out here, don't only talk about the bad things, talk about the good things. Hopefully you've seen the transit ads running around on SEPTA, again, the Blueprint for a Safer Philadelphia. If you want to get involved, we 33 9/21/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 have a toll-free number that you will hear about that's being run by CHOICE, a great organization here in Philadelphia, and you'll hear a little bit more about that organization. In addition to that, we're preparing to launch TV ads that are going to be very powerful, and we're looking to launch those in October, because we're now in the fall. I'll still regretting summer leaving me. I'm still regretting that, so I don't really want to talk about the fall, but nonetheless, we are in the fall. We're about to launch TV. But in addition to those traditional strategies of getting the messages out and raising the awareness and providing a level of education, we're also doing some non-traditional strategies, which is what MEE Production is really known for, and, that is, we're penetrating the community, again, by taking the message directly to you to say, We need to have a dialogue about 34 9/21/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 this issue. We're not going to change this issue overnight. Anything we come up with today is not going to happen overnight. We're here to have a dialogue.
We've had dialogues all throughout the City in major key zip code areas that have been identified as the high homicide areas, where we have opened the doors of community-based organizations to say, Come in and talk to us about this issue, what do we need to be doing in your neighborhood to tackle this issue. Change your mind-set around, again, making education the focus and looking at this issue from a prevention standpoint. We have recruited approximately 300-and-some-odd organizations through my excellent staff sitting in the audience. I have Tiffany Hutchins, who is the Assistant Project Manager; Tyrese Rogers, who is our Lead Community Outreach Coordinator doing this wonderful work in 35 9/21/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 the community. And Tiffany put her hand up, not 300 but 400 community-based organizations that have said, We are on board with reference to this issue. To be on board, that means they make a commitment. They make a formal, sound commitment to distribute these materials, to have these materials in their facility, to use these materials in their work and to also have a dialogue with their constituency, again, about this issue. So we're putting this information in your face in the community. We will be engaging the faith-based community very intensely this year as we move forward. We've done workshops in the community for community-based organizations. We will continue those workshops. And then the last component of this particular social marketing campaign, which is most critical, is the youth component. We've engaged young 36 9/21/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 people to be involved in this process. We've trained them to go out and deliver this message to their peers. It's a peer component, which is very critical. I can't deliver that message. It's important that young people talk to each other about their behavior, about how they can change their behavior and, again, try to prevent violence so we can get to that point of eradicating violence. And, Tiffany, give me some numbers on how many young people we've actually recruited.
That's a lot of young people, even though 60 sounds like a low number. We're going to bring that number --
Approximately 60. That means they had to go through an orientation. They have to go through a training. They have to go through 37 9/21/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 booster trainings, and they have to then go out and perform in the community. We are going to continue that effort and we're going to escalate that effort and actually recruit up to approximately 200-plus young people to be working throughout the City over the next year. In addition to those young people, we have supervisors and mentors who work with them to not only help them deliver this message but to provide some level of youth development, some level of professional development to build their self-esteem, to let them know that someone cares about you and someone is going to be here to tell you you have other options in life, because right now they don't think they have those options. So that is the overall Blueprint for a Safer Philadelphia, social marketing campaign focused specifically on preventing violence. The key here is prevention, looking at it 38 9/21/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 from a public health standpoint to say, We're not going to even get to the point of having to run down to City Hall to see what's going on, because we're going to direct our youth in another direction, primarily education. We're going to focus on their education to make sure that they understand all of their options in life in order to be successful. Thank you so much, and we will be entertaining questions, I guess, later. Thank you.
Great presentation. I always enjoy listening, and each meeting they're doing more and more and more. We now call on Laura Lawrence from CHOICE, who will talk about her program.
Hi. I am Laura 39 9/21/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 Lawrence from CHOICE. I am the social service liaison at that agency, and we are the clearinghouse that serves as the vehicle that gets to the public, that gets to the parents, that gets to the different organizations. Alicia found us. She found us. CHOICE might be a well-known name to most people. We've been alive and well over 35 years now, and while we are a reproductive health hotline, we are passionate about this Blueprint. Again, we serve as the vehicle for the parents to call in, for the children to call in, for organizations to call in and get a host and array of services that we are providing. As of now, we have over 300 referral sources to convey to the parents. Parents are calling into the area maybe at least five to ten a day at this point, learning that there are resources in their area that they did not know existed. Now we're seeing a lot of 40 9/21/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 the PAL organization commercials on. A lot of people don't know that those organizations are right in their neighborhoods. There's five or six of them in one neighborhood being governed by different schools. And that's very important for this movement, because the parents, even though, like Alicia said, they're not to blame, however, they are at the helm. So when it comes down to this woven stitch that we're trying to embrace when it comes to the Blueprint, it starts there. It starts that parents know that children do have idle time on their hands. Children do need to have recreation. I can remember in my youth -- well, I'm still youthful -- the sandboxes, the swings, the boys club. And it's not a coincidence that I, too, have been a gunshot victim at 10 years old in 1972. So I'm very passionate about the Blueprint and how it's going forth 41 9/21/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 and how we are getting the calls and people are getting excited about the information that they're getting for their children, that there are art programs that they don't have to pay for, that there are school tutorings. We're getting a whole lot of older youth, like maybe through 24, wanting GED 10 information. We're able to give that to 11 them. And they're getting excited about 12 moving on with their life, being positive 13 about a change. They're seeing this 14 Blueprint for a Safer Philadelphia 15 everywhere they go. They're hearing it 16 on the radio and they're calling in and 17 want to know -- we even have teenagers 18 calling in asking what can they do to 19 volunteer. Thank God, we do have one source that we can give them. Not so much one. I shouldn't even say that, but there's a great source that we can give them, which is the MEE Production, governing the ages where they can learn how to be positive and how they can go 42 9/21/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 about and enforce that amongst their own peers. So we're excited about the program. We have trained staff. Everybody is happy. Everybody is willing to help. We're going the extra mile. CHOICE not only is on board for the Blueprint, but we're also talking to -- and it's so funny how -- well, it's not funny, but it's an amazing thing when you look at the Blueprint and you look at how we're trying to get this approach wholistically and faith-based and all the things that we are trying to put together and how once you would get on the phones with the parents and the teenagers, how it just twinkles over. They might call in for one service and they find another service. They're finding out where they need to go for different things, and it's just amazing. Now that we are well into the second year and the Blueprint is going forth and as a result a lot of the 43 9/21/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 advertising, the advertising has been very, very good. And, again, we're just here. We're here as the clearinghouse. We're answering the phones. We're excited about giving the information.
That comes along with a lot of counseling skills, a lot of patience. Sometimes, especially when the Blueprint first started, parents just needed to talk. They needed to talk. We have had parents that call in for grief counseling that have been up close and personal to these issues, and thank God that there's a place that they can call now that they can get the information that they need and they can go forth and start their lives more productively. Their children are being embraced with all the resources that we have in our database. And, again, we are here for the long haul. So as the time goes on and as the Blueprint continues to be a household name, we're going to be here and we're 44 9/21/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 going to be here for you. Any questions that you have -- she has her hand up already. REPRESENTATIVE EVANS: The hotline number is 1-888-570-BLUE. 1-888-570-BLUE. And there's a website. The website is, Alicia?
Www.phillyblueprint. That's P-H-I-L-L-Y, Blueprint, all one word, dot com. Www.phillyblueprint.com. REPRESENTATIVE EVANS: I must tell you a little story. I don't think I told this to Tasco or Donna. This is unfortunate. There was an incident that occurred, that a young man accidentally shot a female, and he called my office maybe a couple weeks ago, and the reason he said he called my office -- and this is to your point -- was because he heard about this effort called the Blueprint. He wanted to turn himself into the police, which he eventually turned himself into the police. And he lived in 45 9/21/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 Southwest Philly. I'm just sharing with you, if you heard that statement about that hotline number, and the more and more we do what we do -- and Louise can understand the part where we use the term called "branding." If you say something often enough and regular enough, it begins to -- and then if you look at the website and you see all the organizations, we have been trying to link all of the organizations, from PAL through Boy Scouts to Girl Scouts, to you name it, they have joined this movement. And what we're doing is kind of taking it back to the streets. That's, in a sense, what we're doing, and that's what this movement has been about. So we have come a long way from when we first started, because you're right, when we first started, people were trying to figure out what is it. Now they're joining it. They're being a part of it in every way you could think of. 46 9/21/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155
Thank you very much. You gave out the hotline number. I do believe there are pamphlets about the Blueprint in the back in the chairs. The information is on there. And I just am so pleased that the resources are being pulled together. A lot of people are in pain and they don't know where to go, that sometimes they feel like, Well, if I ask, you might feel that I'm an inadequate parent, you might think because I don't know, that I'm not doing a good job. Well, we weren't trained to be parents. We don't get that training. We kind of do it and make it up as we go along, but this Blueprint is there to help give you the tools you need to address a lot of the issues you have with being parents and also, once the young people get here, how to help them develop self-confidence, be involved in activities in the community, stray away from the violence and the things of that nature. So the 47 9/21/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 Blueprint is all of the pieces of the City coming together to be the network to help people access those resources, and also as we do this, we're changing the behavior. We're becoming a big, big broader community of let's work together and let's help each other. So I am going to ask our State Representative if she has a few words to say before we open the floor for comments, because we promise not to keep you here all evening. State Representative Bishop. REPRESENTATIVE
Thank you very much. First of all, I certainly would like to say to all of you, welcome to the 197th Legislative District. This is, of course, where we have always worked hard for education, worked hard for parents. Overbrook High School has one of the finest principals in the entire school system, and when we reached out to her to let her know that the team was coming tonight, she did everything 48 9/21/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 she could to get the word out to you so that you would get a chance to hear firsthand. I think this Blueprint for a Safer Philadelphia is really something that is catching on. I think it's something we need, because it says to parents that there is someone out there who really does care, who really wants to help to make sure that you are on the right track. So many times we do sometimes err or think that we're doing the right thing when we're not. But it is a conglomeration of all of the resources you need to help to make it better. I just want to say that Dwight didn't just start this in 1995. Our very first --
1991 we 49 9/21/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 did our first violence conference right here at Overbrook High School. Dwight was one of the few Representatives that was here even recognizing then in 1991. So he's been on this bandwagon for a long time. And sometimes it's hard to get everybody else on, because Dwight was, as always, ahead of his time. He always knows the train that's coming and you can get out first to try to stop it before it really does some damage. Now we are catching up with where he has been since the beginning of the '90s, and I believe he is coming with a way that all of us can work together. So I hope that as we move forward with this, that you will take advantage of the resources. There was just one question that I wanted to ask you before we start.
I noticed the school system has gotten rid of the Learn How to Read program that they had some time ago that taught kids 50 9/21/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 when they were very, very young. At a time when we really, really need it now, they don't have funding for it, and I was wondering -- I know that you've already laid your foundation down, but it would be a wonderful thing if we could incorporate that so that kids can really learn how to read, because a lot of that violence starts because kids are angry because they can't read. So I just wanted to put that on the table.
Absolutely. And let me speak to that, because that actually is the genesis of Dr. Stith's theory and her model, is that you're really looking at early childhood development, literacy, early childhood development. So even though we're talking about youth and young adults, ultimately we're going to be looking at trying to affect the lives of those kids that are 8, 9 and 10. Because, again, think about it, when we're talking ten years, we're looking at those kids that 51 9/21/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 will then be young adults, 16, 17, and 18. So we do this awareness and education, once we get that up and running, we've raised everyone's awareness, provide the level of education around prevention, we will then be bringing the programs behind it that will complement the theory, again, of prevention, starting not only with the concept of education but reducing it to literacy, how do we get these kids reading early in this process so they can then take advantage of and have a good education as they get older. So you hit the nail on the head, and that is really the genesis of Dr. Stith's model. REPRESENTATIVE
The floor is now open for questions or comments. Yes, sir. I think this lady right here had her hand up first. Would you like to stand up, please, and let us 52 9/21/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 know who you are.
My name is Sharon Wright and I have grandchildren from 5 to 19 living with me, and that's a wide 6 spectrum. I got one from the Future, 7 this school, Shoemaker. All of my issue 8 is safety. And you can't know whether 9 they make it home or not, because you 10 tell them they can't have a cell phone. 11 Well, Shoemaker already said that. But a 12 child here yesterday coming in my house like that and cops going every which way and another girl with her, and they don't let them have cell phones. I don't think she would turn it on, but I just want to know when to come get her. Because my 19-year-old, I brought her to school, but my younger ones, they want to come by themselves. They don't want me to bring them.
Well, that's an issue that we will certainly raise, and I read about that recently and I thought they were going to rescind that 53 9/21/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 decision because there was such an outcry from the parents. Maybe the principal here could respond to that, about the cell phones, lack of cell phones. PRINCIPAL YOUNG: Well, I wanted to comment. I know this mom. She's one of my parents. And I wanted to comment on that, because safety, of course, is a big issue here in our Philadelphia schools and, of course, I'm concerned, of course, with what I've taken charge of. Just yesterday, Mastery Charter dismissed early. An 8th grader came up here to the 5900 of Jefferson as my children are going home and he opened fire eight rounds on an Overbrook student right in Jefferson Street two blocks down. So kids were -- I can imagine your child running home in the house. And I tell the kids, it's just unconscionable, that one of those bullets could have hit any one of my children, her child, on their way home. And all of that impacts what happens here in my building, 54 9/21/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 because, of course, today I had to hear all of that kind of conversation about, I may want to leave early today, Ms. Young, because I don't know what's going to happen today. And those are fears that go throughout the day, and, of course, they're thinking about it in their classes, because that's where your mind is at, your thoughts are there. So, again, just listening to what you're talking about at the Blueprint, we've got to have preventive measures. I don't like the reactionary thing. We don't wait until the bullets get to flying. We need to doing some things to head off these types of behaviors. And it does start with behaviors. It's behaviors of our children. REPRESENTATIVE EVANS: If I could speak to that. To me, it's a combination of both. You heard Donna Reed Miller say on Tuesday -- everybody is asking the question of does it make a 55 9/21/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 difference to come to Harrisburg, and this is what I've said, I've said, Look, if 30,000 people were to show up, I would assure you it would make a huge difference. Now, the question is -- and I give John Myers credit for this, the State Rep. You know when they had the debate over the Gandy (ph) immigration laws and you saw people out there? I don't know how to tell you and I don't know how to get to understand for you that you got to show that kind of passion. We can do our part. They're doing their hearings. We introduce resolutions. We introduce bills. We create the forum. The question is, you got to meet us halfway. I know folks got to work and all that kind of stuff, but this is a long-time struggle. This is a struggle. Frederick Douglass said, You agitate, you agitate, you agitate. If you want change, that's the way you go about getting change. 56 9/21/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 Now, we can create the forum and anybody can sit around and have cocktail discussions about this, or you can -- when I hear you say what you said about they shot at your child, it pains me personally to hear that. Because when Tasco talked about what I didn't talk about in 1999, building buildings and all that stuff, all that was nice. Don't get me wrong. I think that was nice, but it pains me with -- I didn't even know Faheem Thomas-Childs. It pains me when I hear 1,300 shooting victims, 279 people who died. It pains me every time I hear that. So I'm saying to you -- I mean, the question is really going to come to a point where -- we're going to keep on pushing. We'll keep on doing it, but the question is, when are you going to begin to say you've had enough. Because, see, that's the question. The question is going to be when you've had enough. Now, we said we got enough. We're using every 57 9/21/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 technique we have available, leveraging the process, using every trick we have to get this.
The question is, when are you going to say you had enough? When are you going to say you had enough? And if you've had enough, if you really, really had enough -- I was with Bishop Morris the other day, Modern Church of God and Christ, and he took, Donna, Tasco and all, 1,000 men on Sunday, Bishop Morris got up -- and you'll love this, Louise -- passion hit him and the spirit hit him, he said, I got enough. He must have took about 200 black men out in the middle of the street, City Avenue, stood there, had a prayer. Louise, it hit him. He just went out on the street. He just went out on the street. My question to you is the same thing. In my view, you're acting too restrained and too regulated. I mean, you talk about like eight shots. You talk about that kind of stuff like that's all a part of the norm. That's not. You 58 9/21/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 can't accept that as a part of the norm. Now, I don't know what more to do. We got a day coming in Harrisburg. We got a day. It's your choice if you decide that you get yourself fired up. It's your choice. And don't just continue telling us how bad it is. That's why we're out here tonight. We want to listen to you, but we also want to fire you up and get you to a point where you understand that it can't be just these elected officials. I'm serious. If there's 30,000 people that show up --
We need people to show up on Tuesday. The buses are free. The buses are free. They're all over the City. We're from the other end of the City. We know where they're leaving from that end. Steve, do we know where the 59 9/21/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 buses are leaving from in this area?
There's a list. REPRESENTATIVE EVANS: Or maybe somebody can give the information to Louise's office and you can call Louise's office tomorrow.
Call Louise. We'll get the information to the State Representative.
I have an e-mail about this. Because they're leaving from every neighborhood throughout the City. For example, it's my understanding, Dwight, that there may be three or four buses leaving from Bishop Morris's church. REPRESENTATIVE EVANS: Okay.
So they are leaving. I'm having a bus leave from where I need it to leave from. So they 60 9/21/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 are happening all over the City, but the important thing is that people get fired up enough, as Representative Evans said, and get there. Because too many times we go to community meetings or community events, people are looking for -- and John Myers, I have to give you credit for this. When there's problems, people look in the mirror and they don't see themselves. They see me, they see Tasco, they see Evans, and that's who they blame. When a mother looked at me and said, I blame you elected officials for my son's death, I said, Now this is taking it a bit too far. Ma'am, I didn't kill your son. We as a people sometimes look for others to blame. We got to do this together. This is all of us. Prevention is important. I think prevention and I think the funding should start for children as young as 5 and younger. We have to teach them early on, and by the time they get to 8th grade, maybe they 61 9/21/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 won't think that a gun is how they solve an issue. REPRESENTATIVE EVANS: Good point.
And come into a school area and shoot eight rounds. I have a nephew who got shot probably eight years ago, years old. 11 Today he is blind. He cannot walk. He 12 can't do anything. The only thing we 13 think he can do is hear. He is confined 14 to some type of nursing home for young people, and that's where he has spent his life since age 14, in medical care. So this happens to everybody everywhere, and we're all in this together. And I agree, we should see as many people out there as we saw when the immigration issue came up. I was very proud that they all got together and stood their ground, and they're still doing it. So it is important. I think our need to address the issue of 62 9/21/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 prevention starts at a very young age.
Let me go to this lady right here. Do you have your hand up? And then we'll come to you, sir, in the back. All right? Yes, ma'am. Good evening.
Good evening. My name is Mary Lou Gregory. I live in the community and I'm one of Ms. Young's mothers. I come out as a grandmother. I just received a call, which made me late, on my way here that a friend of many years, her son was shot and killed tonight. I have walked out my door -- my neighbors are here. I have walked out my door last week, walked down the steps and saw the kids running right through the driveway, right on Jefferson Street, and I told them, Get down, run, run for your life, because they were shooting at our children coming home from school. It's not a new problem. 63 9/21/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 We are our children's keeper. We must take control of our children. We have to take control of our schools. I'm an old woman, but I get out here because I'm raising my grandchildren. My youngest one attends right here. I have lived -- my grandmother sent all of her children right here in Overbrook. My mother graduated from Overbrook, my uncle, my cousins. But get instilled, young women. And it is the women, not just the men. But we are the ones who instill in our children the morals. We decide and we teach our children at a very young age. Most of us tell stories. Incorporate your children in their bedtime stories when they go upstairs. Talk to them, sing to them, put records on the TV, march with them. Let them know this is their country and that they own it. If they don't, none of us would be here. None of us will have a place to sleep. But guess what? All of us working together -- and, Mr. Evans, I 64 9/21/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 came out here specifically because I never met you and I never talked to you, but as a community person, I go to the board meetings. I will call. I will speak. I will write, and I'm going to tell you a thing or two. If you don't like it -- (unintelligible.) I saw a movie yesterday on my way to New York. I went to New York on a bus trip and they had Madina's Family Reunion. Well, we have family reunions and block parties all around here. I have a family reunion right there, right over there in my building, and I ain't going nowhere until they take me somewhere, as they say.
The gentleman in the back. UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Good evening. Bravo, Ms. Gregory. Ms. Gregory is my neighbor. I live right around the corner on Jefferson Street. They were shooting up the 65 9/21/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 street. This is my community as well. And I've worked for the Philadelphia School District for 35 years. I just retired. I was the Principal at William Penn High School, and I found in the 35 years that I've worked with the School District, meaning working with children, that children need and want direction. They want direction and they also want to know that there is something at the end of this journey. Okay? Something to start a new journey with. When they complete school, the options are -- I know people say they're limitless, but they're not. They are limited. The options are limited. I am presenting a proposal verbally here tonight, and I'm putting it in writing as well, that we need to provide internships for our children, more especially in high school, beginning in 10th grade. Every high school student should have an opportunity for an internship for at least three years, 66 9/21/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 10th, 11th and 12th grade, and the corporations and businesses in this City should provide them. Our corporations talk about not having skilled workers? Well, we have the workers. Provide the skilled training for them. It works. Our children at William Penn High School have internships at Kvaerner Shipyard. They work hand in hand with the employees every single day. They go to school a week; they're down there a week. And they learn exactly what the employees are doing. Our children also work with Lockheed Corporation hand in hand, and Lockheed provides them an opportunity to work when they complete their internships. It changes their behavior. It improves their attendance. It improves their grades. It provides them with money and a future. It works. Let's do something that works. So I'm presenting that proposal. 67 9/21/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155
As we talked about, the peer component is a form of an internship. It's incentive driven and it's very structured. The age -- Tiffany, give me the age again.
I don't know 10 those grades and whether or not we're 11 hitting them young enough, but it is an 12 opportunity for young folk to get 13 involved. Again, it's incentive driven, 14 because we know that we have to speak to 15 that, and it provides that structure. So 16 if you have young people that are interested in doing something positive, we welcome them attending an orientation to find out our expectation. Because, understand now, we have to understand when you put them in a work environment, they need to be prepared to work. SAME UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Well, let's talk about that for one minute. 68 9/21/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155
Yes, let's talk about that. I'm am employer. SAME UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: You're talking about volunteering. I'm talking about --
No, I'm not talking about volunteering. I'm talking about participating in an incentive-driven opportunity, which is like employment. They are paid for their time. SAME UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: I'm talking about these corporations and businesses in the City of Philadelphia, every single one of them taking children in to their work-a-day world and working and training these children.
Yes. SAME UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: We're talking about a workforce. We don't need people to go to Spain to bring in Spanish teachers. Go down there at 5th and Erie and train the Spanish-speaking people at 5th and Erie. 69 9/21/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 Why do we have to do that? We have individuals here. I am talking about a program that is managed -- I'm talking about a program where you have to take science and math in school, you have to take an internship in school. That has to be a part of the curriculum.
So that's something for the School Board to entertain. SAME UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: That's exactly right.
Okay. We'll put that proposal down. SAME UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: And you have people up there that can make this work.
But we still want to make it an opportunity available to young folk now. There is still an opportunity -- SAME UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: There's no reason why it can't happen 70 9/21/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 now.
No. It's happening, is what I'm saying. If there are young people who want to get involved in something, and you know these young people, there is a program out here that they can get involved, learn a skill, be developed, at the same time get paid for their time. SAME UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: And that's great and we should continue that, but I'm talking about 55,000 young people.
Well, I think there's enough room for all of this, and I think your proposal, certainly we will look at it and to be supportive of it, look at it. The Blueprint can be very expansive. SAME UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: And we support the Blueprint. 71 9/21/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155
That sounds like a great idea. Good idea. This young lady and then you. All right? Yes, ma'am. This is the young lady who was in the production.
In the documentary. UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: I just wanted everybody to know, for the lady who wanted to know where the buses leave, I work at Carroll Park Community Council. That is the non-profit organization in this area, 5218 Master Street. I'm not sure of the location, but we do have flyers and we are part of the Blueprint. I just need to put that out there.
Thank you. UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: So anybody who needs to know where the buses are leaving from, again, our address is 5218 Master Street, Monday through Friday, 9:00 to 5:00. We are on board 72 9/21/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 with Blueprint. So if you need to know, you can stop down.
So you have State Representative Bishop's office you can call tomorrow. We will make sure she has the information so she can tell you where the buses are leaving from. You can contact Carroll Park, and her number is? UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: 215-877-1157.
And we gave out flyers that also has the number to where you sign up, and that's 215-923-1940. They have a website, but I went on the website and the website really doesn't give you the kind of information you're asking for tonight, where are the buses. It doesn't list one place. Because that's why I went on there, to find out where the buses are, and I really didn't see that. So probably the best information is to call the number, call Representative Bishop, 73 9/21/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 call Carroll Park. My office has -- I know they e-mailed me where the buses are, but I never printed the e-mail out, but I do think that, Steve and William, I think you guys have the list in the office, I believe.
And you could call my office. You could call either one of us, any Councilperson's office. You can call and you'll get that information. I will imagine that the bus list will be in the Philadelphia Tribune, will probably be in the Daily News and the Inquirer. So there will be plenty of information as to where. We do want and need to take thousands of people up to Harrisburg. Let me get this lady back here, young lady, and then I'll come back to you. Good evening.
My name is Brenda 74 9/21/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 Simons. I'm a teacher also, and I just want -- it's not a question so much as it is a suggestion. When you started talking about working with the kids and 6 9, getting them that young, I need to say 7 as a teacher -- I work with the 8 and 8 and 10-year-olds -- we need to get them 9 younger, and I say that to say we really need to reach them when these young girls are pregnant. Because research is finding unequivocally that by the time these children start pre-school compared with the kids who are in middle and upper class households, they are already behind. So if they walk in in pre-school, we're talking about words. They are behind in things as simple as words. If they come in in pre-school and they are way behind, that means every year they are getting further and further behind. By the time I get the 8 and 9-year-olds, they are already two and three years behind. So what we really need to do 75 9/21/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 is, as these young mothers get pregnant, we really need to work with them in how to work with their children, that they need to be talking to them, teaching them words, exposing them, exposing them to things, reading to them, taking them to museums and things. We really need to do something to work with young mothers. We got to get them now. That's one of my things, and it's not a question. It's just from experience, because I see them when they're already angry and frustrated. We got to catch them before that. Secondly, I live in the Wynnefield area and I know just from living there, we need to provide our children with more positive behavior supports. I mean, really. In the school systems, it is so much easier to find negative influences just in a classroom than there is to find positive. How can we expect our kids to go the right way if most of the kids who have the power are 76 9/21/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 going the wrong way? We really need to put -- I'm looking at all this money being put into prisons and jails and police and all of that, and I used to be one for that, lock them up, but you know what? I'm learning. We're building too many prisons and jails and are pulling too many parole officers and everything and not enough teachers and people that really need to reach out to these kids. I really got to implore City Council and everyone else. And I'm willing to volunteer and do anything I can, because I see the damaging effects. We need to have community centers that work. In Wynnefield we have the Wynnefield -- we have a community center that we don't have a basketball or anything in there, and it's mostly, I'm sorry, politically controlled. We need to do things for the kids. If it's not for them, why is it there? That's just my thoughts.
Let me say 77 9/21/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 something also. I have to piggyback on what State Representative Evans said. We can only make the way, but the community has to provide the way. If we provide the resources for the programs to be developed, we've got to find people to run those programs. We can talk about all of the things -- and I agree with you on the prenatal. I had a young lady come to me and she wanted to start an after-school program. I said, Well, you have to get your neighbors involved. These people have -- their children are in these schools. They need to be engaged in what's happening at the school level. They should be willing to work and run these programs. We don't have people waiting to run programs. It's got to come from the community. And if the one community group is not making the way, then you organize another one and use that. Because if you notice in this City, back in the '70s and the '80s, early '80s, 78 9/21/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 there were hundreds of neighborhood groups, people working with young people, people working with mothers. They're gone. These people got tired. They retired, got older, but nobody came in to pick up the slack. So I appreciate your willingness to volunteer. You'll sign up for the Blueprint.
But we need more and more people. That's why it's important that energy and the action and the work has to come from the people who live in the neighborhoods.
And if I can just add on to that. How you do that is start blowing up the toll-free number. Start calling that toll-free number, because it's like showing up in Harrisburg. Make these folk hear you. Once they start to hear and recognize that they have to respond, then you're making the way, which is what the Representative talked 79 9/21/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 about. Now, we will be addressing all of your issues, if I heard them correctly. We're going to be working with an organization like Nurse Family Partnership, which actually goes into the homes of these young ladies that have these young kids to try to tell them how you look at parenting. We're also looking at trying to put in parenting classes in the community in order to help people learn how to parent, because as it was said, we don't know how to do that. We're doing it by default. We know what we were taught, but the times have changed, so we have to try new strategies for parenting. We're also going to be starting what we call Parenting Peer Groups as well, like we're working with young people to carry the message to the community. We're going to be working with parents, recruiting them to get involved one on one, talk to your 80 9/21/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 neighbor about this message. We're going to be recruiting parents, again, from an incentive-based process to say, Give us some time, we'll give you an incentive in order to be involved in this to carry this message to your neighbors, to your parents. So you can do that via the toll-free number. The website, you can sign up for that. So we're bringing these programs behind the social marketing. In addition to that, we want to encourage positive behavior. We're going to be launching a very good component of the campaign called the Great Vine. Instead of the grapevine, which is where you spread the word, any kind of gossip, we're taking the Great Vine slant on that, and we're going to be encouraging young people to talk about positive things that they're doing so we can let the other young kids know that kids are not only doing negative things, there's 81 9/21/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 some positive things going on. We want adults to put in stories into the website or send them into our office. We want to encourage, again, trying to promote all of the positive things that young people are doing so we can take the focus off the negative. Again, we cannot continue to focus on the negative. It's going to do what it's going to do and it's going to be what it's going to be, but there are some good kids out there. We have good kids in this audience. I see them. They're here. These are some good kids. You have good kids. With that said, let's promote them. Let's get them out there. Let's get them some visibility. You can do that by signing and sending stories in, sending poetry in about these kids in the website or you can do it via our office number. Tiffany has that information. Their stories will be reviewed by an independent committee of stakeholders and community folk concerned 82 9/21/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 about this issue, and then they will be highlighted in a newsletter that we put out bi-monthly, and they will also be highlighted on the website, and we will be honoring them for a two-month period at a time. So, again, we're trying to do the things that you are recommending, and we will hold fast to looking at early childhood development, which is what you are articulating, because we do agree with that. Unfortunately, we have to go to 2, and that's sad. From a theory standpoint, we want to start with 10. But you are right, we need to start younger than that, because these kids are starting these behaviors younger because that's what they're, unfortunately, exposed to. So we would agree. And, again, volunteer. But call the hotline and make sure we're doing it, because we have a long to-do list.
Call the hotline, say, Are ya'll working on that early childhood 83 9/21/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 development? CHOICE will bring it up and say, MEE, are ya'll working on it? And we will be able to respond in the newsletter. We're putting out a bi-monthly newsletter with all of the things that are going on in and around about Blueprint for a Safer Philadelphia. If you need that newsletter, just sign up and you will automatically get it in the mail bi-monthly. Again, the materials are free. Everything is free. We're not asking folk to pay for anything. And then we are incentive based. We're trying to say thank you for what you do by providing incentives. We're not looking for folk to volunteer if in fact they don't have the ability to do that, because we also understand the economic stresses of our community as well. So we applaud that, and, yes, we will take note. Thank you.
Hopefully I got 84 9/21/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 all of that.
Good evening. My name is Joyce Holland and I'm a Housing Counselor at Carroll Park, and occasionally the City will ask us to do programs. Right now I'm doing a program with Help Philadelphia. It's a shelter program for young women who are living in shelter. And just as the lady stated here, we need to start young. I see little children there, 2, 3, 4 years old. They're cursing. They're using language and they don't even know their A-B-C's. They know their nouns, they know their pronouns. We need to work with our young women. They're asking for our help, and they need our help in order to help their children. If they don't know what to do or what to say or how to train themselves, how are they going to do it with their children. And this program is even down to a point of just being able to sit down at a table and have a meal. 85 9/21/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 That's one of the requirements that they have to have in their little apartments. They have to actually sit down at a table and have a meal. We do this every day, but you don't realize how important it is for you to actually -- I tell it as a joke in my housing counseling seminar, that we need to introduce something to you, and this is a stove. It turns on, you can use it. And while you're doing that, you can have a conversation with your children instead of going to the corner store, buying some chicken wings and just giving them a whole lot of bad stomachs anyway. But, again, it is definitely needed, and not only do we need to start at 10, we need to start at 2 and 3, because, as you know, we've had some pretty hard things, hardships, that happened in daycare, kids bringing things to school, so forth, transporting. We have to start at a young age, but we got to start with the young mothers. 86 9/21/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 I mean, I was a mother. I wasn't a real young mother, but I was a mother. I did the best that I knew how, not to say that it was the best. It was just the best that I knew how to do at that particular time, but I had my mother, I had my grandmother, I had my aunts, I had the neighborhood. And we as neighbors, we can't say so much to these children nowadays, because it's called "it's my child." But we need to get involved. And, also, I'd like to ask, in the school systems, especially in the younger grades, is it possible that we can bring back teachers assistants in these classrooms instead of the teachers being in the classrooms by themselves? Because I visit several classrooms and I see teachers trying to control the ones that have a little behavior problem, and then you have the good ones that are supposed to be learning and you have the other one that's sneaking around. It's 87 9/21/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 kind of hard for one person to kind of control, what is it, kids, 24? 4
So I think that 6 the teachers need a little more 7 assistance in these classrooms to try to 8 help them, and possibly we can go back, 9 because at one time I do believe that you 10 had teachers assistants in the 11 classrooms. Parents used to come. 12
Okay. 20 This young lady in the red and then the young lady back there and then the gentleman. I got you.
Hi. My name is Kim Palmero and this is my son, Rakeem Palmero. 88 9/21/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155
You have to remember that we have a reporter here. She's doing transcribing and she can't hear you when you turn around.
I'm sorry. It starts a lot with the parents. I was a young mother myself, and as I see things as I was coming up, I saw that children are raising children. How could you raise a child when you haven't been fully raised yourself? And I'm young, 38, and I see now that these young mothers out here today, they're raising their young baby boys without a heart. They're taking their hearts. They're taking their hearts and setting it to the side. "I want a tough baby. You fall down? 89 9/21/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 Get up. You're a boy." How do you think he raised up without feeling? He don't feel anything. He has no remorse. "Hit that kid back. He hit you? Hit him back." I'm like, Oh, my God. I got three boys, and this scares me to death. Oh, my God, it scares me to death. I go to bed with sirens. I wake up to sirens. I got sirens in my dreams. I'm telling him every day. My boys are big for their ages and I'm like, If you accidentally bump into somebody, please say excuse me. Turn around and acknowledge it, please. I am so afraid. I'm terrified. I have walked up to churches and said, Could you just pray for my family, please? Pray for my sons. I don't want to lose any of my children to the streets. It's so bad. It's crazy. I see the young mothers, "Get up," just so hard for boys. "I got to 90 9/21/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 raise my boys tough. I don't want them to grow up and be gay." What?
They raise them hard. You fall? Get down, get up. It's okay to feel pain. They don't instill that in their child. It's okay to feel. It's okay to feel about somebody else. It's okay for remorse. We don't have that. I was raised in a large family, eight girls and nine boys. We were like soldiers. We were so in order, it was crazy. We had total respect. Our house was clean. We went to school every day. We were all on the honor roll. My mother and father was there. Today I'm like, I can do it. I can do it. I don't have a clue sometimes. I'm like, Nobody gave me a book. Nobody gave me a book. And I always say I teach my children about 91 9/21/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 respect, personal space. When you come in arm's length to somebody, say excuse me. Even if you did not bump them, say excuse me. You're in their personal space. You can get killed for invading somebody's personal space. You don't even have to open your mouth. Say excuse me. For every child that's raised with morals and respect, my child is going to come across thousands that have no morals, no respect, no discipline, nothing, and it scares me. Every day I'm like, Wow, thank you, Lord, my kids are still here. I see these young mothers. I worked in family planning for seven years. They're young. They don't know. They don't know. They're babies having babies, and they don't have a clue. The main thing they worry about, My baby got a Gucci stroller. Okay. If you would have got Cosco -- I think that's the brand -- if you would have got that, you 92 9/21/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 could have put that money away for that baby to send that baby to college. "Your baby got Gucci sneakers on. Do your baby go to daycare? Do you put away for your child?" No. 7 It's sad, and it starts at the very beginning. It should be mandatory that you have some kind of parenting class if you're a young mother or old mother. It should be mandatory. You should need some kind of license. You need a license to drive a car. It should be mandatory. It is sad. It really does start with family planning. If you come and you're an underage mother, it's mandatory you must take this course. When you come for your prenatal visits, you need to step in this class when you're done. You need to step in here. We're going to teach you this. We're going to teach you this. And the language is crazy. And I tell my sons, When you hear these kids speaking all this profanity, it's because 93 9/21/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 they don't know other words. That is all they know. I'm like we sit down at a table and have dinner. "What happened today in school? Is there anything I need to know about?" It's scary and it's sad, and it's almost like this generation is lost.
We hear that. Thank you for your passion and thank you for your testimony. You're right on target. And that young man is going to grow up to be a fine young man. You ought to send him down to Morehouse. Yes, ma'am. Let me get to this lady, because I had told her to wait for the other lady and I forgot. I'm getting old. I can't remember. And then you'll come after she comes.
My name is Lisa Wafford, and one of the things -- you were talking about education, and I think 94 9/21/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 education is key, but education could take forms in many different ways. And so what I want to know -- she said something that was very key. I think we're really dealing with a heart issue and I think that our children, are they being educated? I mean, literacy is very important, but my thing is, they need to be educated in other ways as far as compassion, as far as -- I think that's a lot of when you're talking about how they don't have a value of life. Our children no longer understand what it means to value life, because they don't value their own. They need to be educated in those ways. So that kind of soft skills, character-building classes, those sort of things that need to be implemented. It's interesting to me that in this City you probably have numerous human services agencies. Like she was talking about they're a clearinghouse, how people are so uneducated as to what resources are out here for them, but it's 95 9/21/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 interesting to me. Like how did you market this media? I just happened to be coming off the El and got a flyer. I mean, I don't understand what it's going to take for our community to move when the blood of our children -- if it ain't the blood of your children that's been running in the street now well over 10 years and we got every bit about 30 11 people in this room, what is it going to 12 take? I don't understand. 13
It's going to 14 take you having a dialogue with your 15 neighbor. It's going to take you having a dialogue with your family member. It's going to take you working -- I mean, this is not going to happen every night.
One thing that he said that is key -- see, I'm not looking for you all as my savior. I'm not 96 9/21/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 looking for the federal government as my savior, but like Hurricane Katrina clearly taught me -- and I'm not talking about a racial thing. They are not my savior. What I'm saying is that -- like for me, I have a young girl that lives next door to me. Her mother was on crack. This young sister wanted to go to college. I just graduated from college at 38 years old. I took her under my wing. I made sure she got her financial aid. I made sure she got her books. You understand what I'm saying? I'm going to see her get through that four years. You understand? Even if it's just your next-door neighbor. I wanted to develop a homework nook, because I saw all these young kids ripping and running when they really should be somewhere doing their homework. We're talking about helping young mothers. That's all fine and well, but how about let's even stop them from being young mothers? She's right, 97 9/21/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 developmentally they're not in a position to handle raising a child. So let's deal with that. Let's stop always dealing with these surface things. We really got to get to the heart of the issue. That means we're going to have to cry. That means that you're going to have to sacrifice. And that's what our community -- we don't want to look in the mirror, but for real, for real, we don't want to sacrifice no more. I don't understand it. I don't know. I mean, when I look at what my mother and them or my grandmother and them went through so that I can have the opportunities that I have, I don't understand the type -- they were willing to lay their life down. We don't have that no more, and that's the truth of the matter as a community. We don't want to be inconvenienced. We want to see these children cursing on the train and just shake our head and look at each other and be like, That's a shame. But I approach 98 9/21/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 these young people. And one thing that he said, they want guidance. If you approach them and they know your heart and they know the place and the motive that you're coming from, they will respond. And that's the bottom line. Go home in your neighborhood. I know there's some young child out there that needs you. Mentor that child. Stop waiting for City Council -- I mean, of course, we need your help, but we need to come alongside them and partner with them, and that's -- it's a shame that this is how many people are in this room.
Well, maybe the next one there will be more because everybody will bring one. So, again, I'm thankful that you're here. I mean, one is a lot for us. This is a good crowd, because we can make a difference. We can make a difference, and that's what we're --
But there are power in numbers. 99 9/21/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155
As she said, we've just started and the message has to go on. There are a lot of messages. The guys marching to Harrisburg. We are going to Harrisburg. I had a meeting scheduled. I looked at that, I said, Oh, no, no, we got to cancel this meeting, I'm going to Harrisburg. So we're going to Harrisburg on Tuesday. We're going to show up. We want to show up in numbers and let those people upstate know that we care, and it's just not the politicians yelling and screaming, but it's the people who are screaming. That's why we want you to go. Yes, Miss, and then the gentleman.
It's okay. It's 100 9/21/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 in the right spirit. I'm Tamara Parnell. I have a 19-year-old and an 18-year-old and they're both in college. So I know about the single parent and all that thrill. Been there, did that. Love begets love. You have to learn to love someone when you see someone doing something wrong or incorrect as though it's yourself. A lot of times these children don't have anybody to listen to them. They just want somebody to hear what they're saying. And when you hear what they're saying -- we can all remember when we were young. We rebelled and did things that were not the right approach, and we just take time to listen to them and help them, put them in the right direction without so much fussing and hampering towards them, because they hear all of that in the world and in the streets and in the community. If we just sit down and hear what they're saying, then we can 101 9/21/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 redirect that into some healthy, positive attributes. And that's really what I'm saying. As a black people or a black race, it shames me to my heart that we are so far disconnected. We're the only race that's so disconnected. We don't have to be disconnected. We wait for a politician to give us this. We wait for a politician to give us that. We don't need a politician to give us anything. We came back from slavery from Africa, and if they can take what little they had and make much, we have so much more today. We are making excuses where there aren't any excuses. We have got to stop blaming that on our kids and be accountable for her son, her child, her child, her child, her child, his child, my child. But we don't do that anymore. Go up to the drug dealer. He might be intimidated. Get somebody. There's strength in numbers, honey. Take a man 102 9/21/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 with you. He may not be the best man, but that will show that drug dealer some fear and say, Look, we understand you're in a situation or whatever, but we don't want the drugs here. Why are you doing drugs? Let's understand why you're doing the drugs so we can maybe help you stop doing the drugs. Because you know what you're really doing? You're killing your race. You don't realize you're killing your race. That's what you're doing. They don't care, and we have to have a care and a caring heart for our people. That's it. Parents, we got to do our jobs. That's it. We can't wait for nobody else to do it. We have to learn to do our jobs and, like I said, stop sitting back on your laurels. Do what you need to do. Think outside the box. Stop staying in the box. Get out of the box. The sky is the limit.
Thank you. Wonderful testimony. Wonderful. Yes, sir. I'm sorry. 103 9/21/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155
The passion in this room is just so great, and what I'm hearing is, Look, we respect you politicians, but we're willing to help, too, and it's up to us to help, and I like hearing that. It's just so great.
I'm not a politician. I'm actually the President of the Home and School Association here. (Applause.)
And I'm also a retired vet. I'm also a nurse. I'm also a single parent and I'm also a gunshot victim. And I say that to say, we have all this attention going to the representatives here asking to do this, do that. The only thing I do ask of this Blueprint project is, let's not have it stop here or after the march to Harrisburg or whatever. I would like to propose to the panel to have representatives at least once a month to 104 9/21/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 come to the Home and School Association or put the Home and School Association into this program somehow some way, because that's something I really didn't hear. It may be going on, but I didn't hear it. And if I didn't hear it, I'm sure other people may not have heard it. The young lady said she did not hear about this meeting until she stepped off the El train. So that's something we probably need to have more in the media, as well as inside the schools.
What you can do, as Carroll Park has done and been very active just not only in Blueprint, they've been on board with MEE Production for some time, you can sign up not only into what we have, which is a community network that is national, the Blueprint has its own community network, and you get all of the information about everything that goes on with reference to Blueprint. 105 9/21/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 In addition to that, if you don't want to sign your organization up, you can always check the website. Everything is always posted on the website, www.phillyblueprint.com. If you don't have access to a computer, the toll-free number, 1-888-570-BLUE. MEE Production's number is 215-829-4920. We're located right at 12th and Callowhill. So we want to connect. You can always come to us and say, Come out to our location to do a presentation, to recruit some young kids, to just be at your meeting just as wallflowers with Blueprint T-shirts on. We will be there. So we can address that.
And I ask that because now I've turned it to the parents. Last year I was nominated for President here and I didn't know what I was doing. Principal Young took me under her wing, as well as a mentor who was here prior to, and once voted that I'll 106 9/21/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 be the President now, I started saying, Well, what do I do? What should I do? I knew I wanted to have guest speakers and stuff like that, but I also wanted to have something that Home and School should relate to, as a lot of parents said tonight, dealing with home. We could always say it needs to start in second grade or whatever, but we all know the truth is, it starts at home. So instead of having representatives try to go to neighborhood to neighborhood and house to house, why not the parents show up to the Home and School Association, and then we have those special classes. You can have your child-rearing class. You can have your feeding classes. There's so many things that -- like I said, I'm a nurse. What I was going to do the first meeting that we had was teach in the yard, because that's what I do, because there's so many little knick-knack things that we can do as a Home and School Association, but we have 107 9/21/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 to find a way to get the parents there to start it. And that's why I said somehow we got to get it in the media about the Blueprint more and more and how it relates to Home and School Associations and tell the parents to show up to the Home and School Association, find out about your child, as well as some child-rearing skills that you need and drug addiction classes that you may attend instead of having everybody having to go out into the neighborhood. Because like someone said earlier, everybody wants that convenience and it's just not going to happen where we're going to these people's houses. You have to find a local spot to do it at, and I think the Home and School Association is the best way to do it.
And we will work with you to do that by recruiting parents to get involved. Again, we're going to be working with parents so they can take this into their homes and to the Home and 108 9/21/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 School Association. So we'll work with you.
One of the things, just as a suggestion, when you're sending out your flyers monthly, maybe some of the things you can incorporate as some incentives are the tutoring programs, after-school programs, you tap into the Blueprint resources. You know what I mean? You call, you get a list of the things that are in your area. You can have them for yourself, but on your flyer, that's what you can bullet. Tutoring classes, information about that, after-school classes, dance classes, art classes, and maybe the parents might want to hear some things about that. So you can do that when you send out your flyers. Put information in it that will grab the parents, because that's the only thing that's going to get them out. I used to be a Home and School President 109 9/21/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 myself and it's a very frustrating job, and my hat is off to you.
Have you ever thought about having a Home and School Association meeting on a Saturday morning? Because at night, parents are working. They come home, they do dinner, they're doing homework with the kids. Saturday morning, maybe they might maybe once -- you don't have to have it every week. Maybe every two months have a meeting, and at that meeting, have a discussion or have a speaker in to talk about various topics, and that might get them out a little more than thinking that they're going to come to a meeting at night.
We've done that. That's why, again, I challenge the parents to really think about it, because some meetings you have a lot of great ideas and then the next meeting no one shows up. You have a lot of great ideas, but no one wanted -- just like church. 110 9/21/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 You need someone to take the reigns on the idea. If you think about a clothing drive, say I want to have a clothing drive, I want to be in charge of it and I want to start it on this day. Like they said earlier, you got to be proactive instead of reactive, and I see that a lot with the Home and School Association. I also see that -- the thing is, don't just come with a problem as a parent. We got to come with solutions.
You know what? I was sitting here thinking, because certainly we've all been parents of children in public schools. I remember when my daughter was in 12th grade -- it wasn't long ago. I have two sets of kids. I have a 22-year-old -- and they had a meeting. The Home and School Association had a meeting for parents of senior children because they were going to graduate. About 20 parents showed up. I couldn't believe it. But I was sitting here thinking 111 9/21/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 Saturdays is a good idea, but I also thought how about a high school, a middle school and an elementary school having a joint Home and School meeting? I think the young lady there talked about you have children at a couple different schools, right? And if you went to one meeting, it might help, but it might also work just in terms of the resources, because we're talking about reaching children at a younger age and we're talking about parenting, value clarification and all those kinds of things. So you got to try something unique and a little bit different. I have a nephew that never wanted to go to school Monday through Friday, but he loved Wagner Middle School's Saturday classes. Couldn't wait to get there. We couldn't figure that one out, but that's what he liked. So I think you just have to be a little bit more creative. Try to think of some things that might bring people 112 9/21/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 in. Keep working with your people in the neighborhood. I have a little girl whose mother and grandmother are crack addicted that I've sort of taken under my wing. Many times children don't know a different way because nobody has taught them. Nobody has taught them about personal hygiene, all those kind of things that so many of us take for granted. So it does help us when we spend time and take our time to help some of our neighbors' children that just don't know. And it's kind of a reach out and touch, because they don't come to you, you have to go to them. When I found out that's what happened, that's what was going on with this kid, I went to her. Last year we had a joint birthday party. She was 10 and I'm not going to tell you how old I was. Everybody brought gifts for her and just a couple people brought gifts for me, like a little scarf or something. So 113 9/21/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 sometimes you just have to reach out and touch and see what you can do. We have to wrap up now, because we've always promised schools that we'll be out by a certain time and I think that time has come.
Has passed? So I know you have something you want to say. Make it very brief. UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: I just wanted to say I'm a member of the West Philadelphia Stakeholders Group of School Truancy, and a lot of our meetings are held in the day and they have a lot of resources that parents need, but their meetings need to be more in the evening after work hours, because I used to have to leave work for like those two hours to go right after to School Truancy at West. Now it's over at Community College. But I was with that organization when it first started each stakeholders group. 114 9/21/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 They have a lot of banging resources, and the parents need to come to those meetings.
They really do. I belong to a couple of the stakeholders groups. UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: And I think the stakeholders meetings from West Philadelphia and all of them should be put in the evening so they can give these parents a chance to come out and voice their opinion.
Could we have one more comment, because somebody hasn't said something this evening. Real quick.
Real quickly, hi. My name is Roho Reagan. I'm with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection. I just want you to know there's a lot of federal internships for kids in Customs Border Protection and the federal government. All you have to do is go online. Parents go online. 115 9/21/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155 Secondly, I'm a proud Overbrook parent. My son goes here. I'm a member of the Home and School Association. I back my President. Another thing, I just have one question to ask. Did you ever think about making this a pocket Blueprint, something that you can stick in your pocket, with all the information that you need, and when you're finished with all the information in that pocket, I give it to you, slip it to him and he has the answer. He now has the Blueprint. That's all I wanted to say.
We have a couple of different types of materials. The postcards are just all out now. So we do outreach with a number of those different materials. Next to come out is going to be actually a youth resource disc, because it's going to be extensive. So we have that coming out next. So, yeah, we do different types of materials for different types of purposes. 116 9/21/06 - PUBLIC SAFETY - RES. 051155
We want to thank everyone for coming. We will be back. (Applause.)
I have to adjourn the meeting to October the 2nd. We're still in Council. You didn't know you were in Council today, did you? This was a City Council meeting, official meeting, with a stenographer. The Committee will stand adjourned until Monday, October the 2nd, 2006, West Philadelphia High School, 5700 Walnut Street at 7:00 p.m. Thank you and please feel free to come. I loved this. This was wonderful. I loved the passion and I loved the interest. Thank you. (Joint Committees on Public Safety and Public Health and Human Services adjourned at Deposition concluded at 8:50 p.m.) - - - 117 CERTIFICATE I HEREBY CERTIFY that the proceedings, evidence and objections are contained fully and accurately in the stenographic notes taken by me upon the foregoing matter on September 21, 2006, and that this is a true and correct transcript of same. ______________________________ MICHELE L. MURPHY RPR-Notary Public (The foregoing certification of this transcript does not apply to any reproduction of the same by any means, unless under the direct control and/or supervision of the certifying reporter.)