On the last Saturday in June, neighbors, advocates, and families gathered at the Hartranft Community Center on North 9th Street to learn about resources and compare strategies to continue reducing gun violence in the Philadelphia area. The Gun Violence Prevention Seminar and Resource Fair was hosted on June 27 by Asociación Puertorriqueños en Marcha, (APM)
APM is a Latino-based nonprofit serving the Philadelphia area since 1970, with 400 multilingual professionals reaching up to 35,000 Pennsylvanians a year through bilingual, culturally sensitive services. The seminar gathered local leaders and advocates for a solutions-driven, resource-focused conversation on the causes of gun violence, its toll on families and youth, and the government and community-based strategies helping to turn the tide. This is one more step in its commitment to empowering communities, amplifying voices, and building safer, stronger neighborhoods. Learn more at APMPhila.org.
The conference was held in an area of Philadelphia that has seen its share of homicides and gun violence. APM is working tirelessly to address the many problems associated with mental health and deep poverty. Homicides fell to a historic low in 2025, and many, including Captain Stephen Bennis of the 25th Police District, credit the City’s increased services for youth and families through the Targeted Community Investment Grants and other anti-violence funding. It is a view shared well beyond his district. District Attorney Larry Krasner and other officials have tied the citywide decline to violence-prevention spending, grassroots interruption work, and summer programming that gives young people somewhere to go.
At Hartranft, the strategy had faces and names: Dr. Franklin Moreno of Temple University’s Department of Criminal Justice; Tobi Downing, director of Gun Violence Reduction Initiatives at the Office of the Attorney General; Tania Leonard, director of the Philadelphia DAO CARES Unit; and Nyrhae Williams of the Public Health Management Corporation’s Advocacy Institute, a Stoneleigh Fellow. Beside them sat Emily and the Severino family, and Disability Pride advocate Charles “Chuck” Horton, whose lived experience lingered in the room like scars that still ache — proof of what the numbers alone cannot measure. Attendees asked questions and connected with resources for prevention, advocacy, and support.
Councilmember Quetcy Lozada of the 7th District, the message is simple. “I am glad to see crime numbers moving in the right direction in the 24th and 25th Districts, but we cannot take that progress for granted,” she said. “The idea is to keep the violence down and keep investing in our communities.”
The investment is growing. Mayor Cherelle L. Parker joined Chief Public Safety Director Adam Geer to announce the 2026 TCIG grantees of the Anti-Violence Community Partnership Grants (AVCPG) program, which will award a total of $25 million to more than 150 organizations before the end of 2026. The grants support the Parker Administration’s comprehensive public safety strategy — law enforcement, prevention, intervention, workforce development and community investment — aimed at the root causes of violence.
Ultimately, the seminar at the Hartranft Community Center underscored a vital truth: that ending gun violence is not the work of any single entity, but a collective endeavor. By fostering these critical connections between resources, lived experience, and policy, APM continues to light a path toward healing and sustained safety for all.
