Philadelphia\u2019s $208 million spending plan aimed at combating the alarming rate of gun violence in the city is almost entirely devoted to initiatives that would take at least five years to have an impact, according to the city\u2019s fiscal watchdog.<\/p>\n
And the short-term initiatives funded over the next year make up an even smaller portion of the budget than they did last year.<\/p>\n
City Controller Rebecca Rhynhart\u2019s office on Tuesday released an analysis of the city\u2019s antiviolence spending plan<\/a> that was agreed to in June during budget negotiations<\/a> between Mayor Jim Kenney\u2019s administration and City Council. The funding includes a wide array of initiatives<\/a> mostly outside traditional law enforcement, including grants to grassroots organizations, social programs that engage potential shooters, and quality-of-life improvements.<\/p>\n It is the second such analysis conducted by Rhynhart\u2019s office, which last year found <\/a>that only 21% of the city\u2019s $155 million spending plan was intended to support interventions that experts say could yield results in one to three years.<\/p>\n This fiscal year, the administration and Council agreed to increase the overall antiviolence spending plan<\/a> by 35%, to $208 million. But according to Rhynhart\u2019s office, the amount of money going to short-term interventions barely changed, meaning just 17% of the total spending plan went to those types of programs.<\/p>\n Kenney\u2019s administration pushed back on the analysis, saying it believes more than 70% of its antiviolence budget supports short-term programs \u2014 not 17%. It categorizes several strategies as short-term that the controller did not, including quality-of-life improvements and programs that offer alternatives to incarceration for people convicted of nonviolent crimes.<\/p>\n Spokesperson Kevin Lessard also noted that the antiviolence spending plan that the controller analyzed does not include the nearly $800 million police budget, \u201cwhich is largely a short term anti-violence strategy.\u201d<\/p>\n Rhynhart, a frequent critic of Kenney\u2019s response to the city\u2019s gun violence problem, is said <\/a>to be considering entering the 2023 mayoral race.<\/a> Under city rules, she\u2019d have to resign<\/a> from her current job to formally campaign.<\/p>\n Her report comes as the city\u2019s gun violence crisis has continued this year at an unsettling pace.<\/a> To date, more than 360 people have been killed in homicides \u2014 the vast majority by guns \u2014 putting the city on pace to match or exceed last year\u2019s record toll.<\/a><\/p>\n The victims just this month have included a woman fatally struck by a stray bullet <\/a>in Frankford and five people shot <\/a>near a West Philadelphia recreation center. On Sunday, a 4-year-old boy was wounded <\/a>by gunfire that erupted in a barbershop filled with kids getting haircuts before their first day of school.<\/p>\n Rhynhart said the \u201cdifficult reality\u201d of her office\u2019s analysis is that the administration hasn\u2019t fully embraced programs outside law enforcement that aim to stem the bloodshed.<\/p>\n \u201cUntil we fund intervention at the level it should be funded, and do it right,\u201d she said, \u201cthe violence is likely to continue.\u201d<\/p>\n Here\u2019s a breakdown of the controller\u2019s findings.<\/p>\n The controller\u2019s office categorized spending in four buckets, which Rhynhart said are used by experts in criminal justice and public health:<\/p>\n Intervention: strategies that could yield results in three years or less<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n Prevention: medium-term efforts that could show results in five to 10 years<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n Transformation: long-term development and revitalization initiatives that take 15 to 20 years to show results<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n Police programs: funding earmarked for law enforcement<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n About 71% of the $208 million plan in the fiscal year that began in July is dedicated to either preventative or transformational programs. Intervention programs that aim to stem violence in the immediate account for 17% of the investment, and police funding makes up the remaining 12%.<\/p>\n Preventative and transformational programs include strategies like juvenile-justice services, after-school activities, and blight abatement. The antiviolence plan also includes a restoration of $20 million in funding to the Parks and Recreation Department and the Free Library of Philadelphia, which saw significant budget cuts during the pandemic.<\/p>\n \u00bb READ MORE: Philly libraries and rec centers are at \u2018completely unacceptable\u2019 staffing levels, advocates say<\/a><\/b><\/i><\/p>\n Rhynhart said these are \u201cworthy\u201d investments, but said Philadelphia is still investing substantially less money<\/a> on short-term intervention programming compared to New York City and Los Angeles. She said the city would need to spend at least $20 million more to reach the same level as those cities.<\/b><\/p>\n To do so, she said, the administration should scale up intervention programs already proven to work.<\/p>\n Rhynhart\u2019s office said the Kenney administration has not released any evaluation of existing antiviolence programs, including intervention efforts that launched years ago.<\/p>\n She reiterated a call \u2014 which she also made last year<\/a> \u2014 for the city to release the data and metrics it is using to track efficacy.<\/p>\n Lessard said the administration plans to release an evaluation of one of its intervention programs \u2014 which has neighborhood mentors connect with potential shooters and victims \u2014 this fall. A second evaluation of Group Violence Intervention, a similar program run by the city, is scheduled to be released early next year, he said.<\/p>\n One of the cornerstones of the administration\u2019s plan to combat gun violence <\/a>in the last fiscal year was a program to provide<\/a> grants to grassroots organizations<\/a> that already operate in communities most affected by gun violence.<\/p>\n But the grant-making program became beset by delays, and of $22 million set aside for it, just $13.5 million was spent.<\/p>\n Rhynhart\u2019s office reviewed the 31 organizations that received grants. It found just two programs could be considered short-term because they offer crisis intervention in shooting hotspots or deploy mentors to de-escalate conflicts.<\/p>\n \u00bb READ MORE: Experts in violence prevention say Philadelphia\u2019s strategy should be more targeted<\/a><\/b><\/i><\/p>\n Lessard said the grants were made to organizations wishing to expand programs that were already in place, and that 70% of them were for short-term interventions. The administration considers strategies such as jobs programs to be short-term, while the controller\u2019s analysis does not.<\/p>\n The antiviolence plan this fiscal year allocates a new $2 million in spending to implement a jobs program called READI (Rapid Employment and Development Initiative). It\u2019s a short-term intervention modeled on an existing program in Chicago<\/a> that connects young men at risk of shooting or being shot with job opportunities.<\/p>\n The city has been conducting a \u201cfeasibility study\u201d for a year, and has not released results. Officials have been planning the program since at least early 2021, and its launch date has been repeatedly pushed back. Last year, the administration estimated<\/a> a pilot would launch in January 2022.<\/p>\n Now, Lessard says a test version is expected to start \u201cbefore the end of this calendar year.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMajor programs, like READI, especially for the first replication, take time to effectively staff and structure,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n But Rhynhart said getting the program off the ground shouldn\u2019t have taken this long.<\/p>\n \u201cSometimes trying to create a perfect program is the opposite of getting something done,\u201d she said, \u201cand when people are dying, there needs to be more urgency.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n