The Philadelphia budget negotiations are going fast and furious at City Hall. It’s important that councilmembers hear from people like you who support initiatives that protect children and youth from violence.

Our city is experiencing an alarming rise in gun violence, and the poorest zip codes are the hardest hit. To keep children safe and give them positive alternatives to guns and drugs, we need to act now.

At issue is $50 million, a mere drop in the $5.2 billion budget. This funding will quickly be invested in our communities to support violence prevention programs that 1) offer job placement for young people who live in the 10 zip codes most affected by gun violence, 2) expand trauma and therapeutic services, and 3) provide afterschool and summer programs, and other services.

Included in this funding request is $550,000 to create the Youth Services Ombudsperson Office, an independent office focused on investigating reports of abuse in youth residential or detention facilities. When sexually and physically abused youth “in care” cry out for help, their pleas are too often ignored. We need to give them and their families a trusted place to turn for justice.

Please contact your councilmembers today and ask them to do two things:

1. Support the $50 million in gun violence prevention programs and
2. Support the Ombudsperson Office and direct the funds to the Inspector General’s office to get this lifesaving resource up and going ASAP.

Call, email, tweet, or tag them on Facebook with your message. You can find their contact info at phlcouncil.com/council-members and use the hashtags #ombudsPHL and #protectPHLkids. Don’t forget to tag PCCY on Twitter @PCCYteam and on Facebook @PCCYPage.