Six years ago, Philadelphia’s Nicetown neighborhood was struggling to confront a string of shootings. The gun violence there was worse than in neighboring areas, and it had become so frequent that Kendra Brooks spent each morning full of worry about sending her 10-year-old to school. It had gotten so bad, she told local news outlet Billy Penn, that her kids had “buried a friend every other week” over the summer of 2018.
That fall, Brooks gathered with neighbors on the corner of 17th and Wingohocking to launch a new effort that would address the violence on a community level. Brooks, now a member of the Philadelphia City Council, said that Nicetown didn’t need more police — instead, residents wanted their neighborhood to have more resources, like jobs, grocery stores, after-school programs, and health and legal services. Her contribution was an ongoing event series that helped attendees access those resources. Over time, that holistic, community-centered effort resulted in Neighbors Day, an annual celebration and resource fair for Nicetown residents.
Three weeks before the presidential election, I sat on the corner of 15th and West Wingohocking Street, joining dozens of Nicetown residents for this year’s Neighbors Day. Community members celebrated Philadelphia’s major drop in gun violence, and local leaders and elected officials spoke about how critical the next four years will be when it comes to making sure our city continues to get safer.
Since the string of shootings six years ago, gun violence on the neighboring blocks of Wingohocking has dropped, from more than 10 shootings — including four fatalities — in 2018 to two shootings — with zero fatalities — this year. That reflects a citywide trend: With less than one month left in the year, Philadelphia is on track to have fewer homicides and nonfatal shootings than it had before the pandemic. As my colleague Mensah M. Dean reported, it’s hard to say what has caused the decline, but officials attribute it to a combination of community and government-led violence interventions, law enforcement strategies, and the ending of COVID-19 restrictions.
Though these numbers bring relief, some Nicetown neighbors told me that it’s not enough. They won’t be satisfied until the gun violence stops altogether.
During a break from the Neighbors Day festivities, I spoke with a woman named Patricia Ford, affectionately known as Ms. Pat, inside a nearby church. Ms. Pat moved into the neighborhood 39 years ago. “Everything was so wonderful then,” she said. “The neighborhood was just beautiful. Very quiet. People took care of their property. I’m not sure when the gun violence started, but of course I noticed it, because a lot of it was happening around the corner from where I live.”
She told me about losing a neighbor she loved. The teddy bear, she called him. “I watched him grow up,” she said. He aspired to be a professional football player, but he blew his knees out. After losing the sport he loved, he “started hanging on the corners. That’s where the trouble was,” Ms. Pat said. “I’ll never forget that young man as long as I live. He really was a nice guy, but he just didn’t know what direction to go in, and he didn’t have no one to tell him.”
She’s happy that things are turning around in Nicetown. She told me she’s hopeful “because more people are getting more information, people can spread the information to their family members, to their neighborhoods, about resources.” She added, “That’s all the community needs, is resources.”
She makes a good point. But some Philadelphians I’ve spoken to are worried that the resources that help communities thrive may be at stake once President-elect Donald Trump is back in office. His nominees, if confirmed, will control the day-to-day levers of power across a massive bureaucracy, including most of the federal government’s gun violence prevention efforts, research, and policymaking.
So much has changed within the last few weeks. We’ve experienced another historic presidential election, and now we’re preparing for whatever comes next. In a recent story, Mensah examined how Philly officials are reacting. While it’s too early to know how Trump will affect the city’s efforts to reduce gun violence, he reported, Mayor Cherelle Parker and Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel have indicated that they are open to working with the new administration — a sign that they’re determined to maintain Philly’s momentum in reducing gun violence.
Mensah’s reporting also implied that no matter what, everyday Philadelphians remain optimistic. I know I certainly am.
The Trace’s reporting in Philadelphia is a part of the Every Voice, Every Vote project and supported as well by the Comcast NBCUniversal Foundation, The Lenfest Institute for Journalism, the Neubauer Family Foundation, and the William Penn Foundation. You can read more about The Trace’s Philadelphia supporters here, and read our editorial independence policy here.
