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Meeting aims at averting summer homicides
From late April to mid-September last year -- a period of about four and a half months -- there were 21 homicides in the city. There were just 28 in the other seven and a half months.
Adrienne Young, executive director of Tree of Hope, a charitable organization aimed at helping families of murder victims, organized yesterday's meeting with Councilman Gene Ricciardi and other government and law enforcement officials to discuss how local government can help curb the violence.
Ricciardi said he plans to make the meetings a regular event and hopes to hold the next gathering at a local church.
Church leaders from predominantly black neighborhoods composed many of the more than three dozen people who attended the meeting. They've organized outreach activities and summer programs to keep young people away from violence. But, the leaders said yesterday, others need to join their fight.
"The clergy needs help. It's the small persons and ministries doing the bulk of the work," said Ronald Nance, pastor of the Sons of God Ministries Inc. on the North Side. "These are faith-based initiatives but our hands are tied and we can't do this ourselves. Help us empower our communities and change the face of our dysfunctional neighborhoods."
Church leaders, Young said, play a pivotal role in combatting the problem of neighborhood violence.
"The church is the eyes and ears and the pillars in many troubled communities," she said. "You go into Homewood and North Side and you will see a church on every corner."
City Councilwoman Barbara Burns, Pittsburgh Bureau of Police Assistant Chief William Mullen and U.S. Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan also were at the meeting.
They agreed it's crucial for authorities and churches and community groups to work together.
"It is a priority to reduce gun violence, but we can't do it alone. Law enforcement needs to join with the faith-based organizations to help work on the problem together," Buchanan said.
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