REV. EILEEN SMITH, WITH THE SOUTH PITTSBURGH COALITION FOR PEACE. (PHOTO BY J.L. MARTELLO)
Allegheny County giving organizations ‘Community Violence Reduction Grants’
The South Pittsburgh Coalition for Peace has been named a “Community Quarterback” by the Allegheny County Department of Human Services (DHS), meaning that the organization will be the pivot point for three programs that aim to stop violence in and around the city.
The New Pittsburgh Courier has learned that Community Violence Reduction Grants (CVRG) were dished out earlier this summer by the county’s DHS, as the county believes that “people have been working on solutions without the sustained funding and technical assistance needed to support programs proven to reduce gun violence,” according to a document published by the county on its website.
The Courier has learned tens of millions of dollars has been committed over the next five years for what’s called, “Evidence-Based Programs” to tackle the issue of violence in the county.
TIM STEVENS (PHOTOS BY J.L. MARTELLO)
The three Evidence-Based Programs being funded by Allegheny County are: “Cure Violence Global,” which attempts to treat the spread of violence like a disease and disrupts it through credible violence interrupters; “Becoming a Man” (BAM), a school-based program from the Youth Guidance organization that employs full-time licensed counselors who work with young men in grades 7-12; and Rapid Employment and Development Initiative (READI), a paid transitional jobs program focused on at-risk men ages 18-34 and puts them through a 9-to-5 workday, five days per week.
ELIZABETH FORINGER
In addition to the South Pittsburgh Coalition for Peace, five other organizations were named “Community Quarterbacks” throughout the county, the Courier has learned exclusively: Focus on Renewal, for the Sto-Rox area; Penn Hills School District, for the Penn Hills area; Community Forge, for the Wilkinsburg area; Greater Valley Community Services, for the Woodland Hills area; and Steel Rivers Council of Government, for the Mon Valley area.
The three Evidence-Based Programs are being implemented in most, but not all, of the six community areas. For South Pittsburgh, however, all three EBGs are being implemented.
“This is a new movement here in South Pittsburgh,” said the Rev. Eileen Smith, executive director for the South Pittsburgh Coalition for Peace. “It has not been easy to do startup model programs; a lot of ups, a lot of downs, but more ups than downs. When you hear so much about our young people dying out there, it’s a burden that you cannot ignore.”
Through the first seven months of 2023, 70 people have died in Allegheny County from a homicide classification, which includes the shooting death of 17-year-old Andrew Smith. He was shot near the Sunoco gas station in Mt. Oliver in the early morning hours of July 30. Mt. Oliver is in the heart of where those connected to the South Pittsburgh Coalition for Peace fight to keep the streets peaceful.
Andrew Johnson, Ph.D., is the executive director of Youth Guidance, the organization behind the “Becoming A Man” program. He spoke at a news conference organized by the South Pittsburgh Coalition for Peace in June, saying that the program has worked in cities like Boston, Dallas, L.A. and Seattle. The high schools the BAM program will focus on are: Clairton, Penn Hills, Sto-Rox, Westinghouse, Brashear, and in South Pittsburgh, Carrick. Dr. Johnson said his youth specialists will have one-on-one engagements with young men in those schools, and help them to make “responsible decisions for their future and become positive members of their school and community.”
REV. MAURICE TRENT
As outlined on the Youth Guidance website, the BAM program “integrates clinical theory and practice, men’s rites of passage work, and a dynamic approach to youth engagement.”
Dr. Johnson, during the news conference at the Center for Victims offices on the South Side in June, said the young men will learn six core values: integrity, accountability, self-determination, respect for womanhood, visionary goal-setting, and positive anger expression.
The BAM program will be working with the six aforementioned schools beginning with the upcoming school year (2023-24).
Specific to the South Side, Rev. Smith leads an impassioned group of people dedicated to stopping the violence that disproportionately affects African Americans. The South Pittsburgh Coalition for Peace was founded in 2005 by the Birmingham Foundation, after a Carrick High School student, 16-year-old Keith Watts, was killed just outside the school.
Overall, the grant awarded to the South Pittsburgh Coalition for Peace gives the group an opportunity to add more “violence interrupters” on the South Side streets to quell problems before they turn into gun violence. It provides more stability for the now-18-year-old organization to keep programs going in conjunction with its partners, like the Beltzhoover Consensus Group, Iron Cross Ministries, Hilltop Alliance, South Side Presbyterian Church, and Brashear Association.
Divine Intervention Ministries also works with Rev. Smith and the South Pittsburgh Coalition for Peace. Its executive director is Debra Germany, a Black woman who lost her son, Raymond, to gun violence in the Hill District in 2001. Divine Intervention Ministries was founded by Germany following her son’s death. For the last 20 years, she’s been fighting to prevent others from losing their sons and daughters to gun violence. She also spoke at the June news conference, praying that some of the young men engaged in violent activity “have a heart to receive the help.”
She hopes that on the South Side and in all parts of Allegheny County, “these young men will begin to respond differently (by not resorting to gun violence). Do you realize you’re one decision away from greatness? The next decision you make can determine whether you live or die.”