What community leaders think led to Philly’s drop in shootings, and what’s needed to sustain it long-term

After years of record-breaking violence amid the pandemic, Philadelphia in 2024 saw a historic reduction in homicides and shootings.

The reasons behind the decline are not entirely clear, but some law enforcement officials and criminologists have pointed to a few theories: post-pandemic stability, the return and expansion of community programs, and an uptick in arrests for violent offenders.

But what do community members think? Do Philadelphians feel safer?

Here are reflections from five community leaders on changes in the city’s crime trends last year, which interventions they believe have worked, and what more needs to be done to reduce violence long term.

Kendra Van de Water, cofounder of YEAH Philly, a West Philly-based violence-reduction program for young people in the criminal justice system, said there seem to be fewer conflicts in the neighborhood. She and her colleagues used to receive many calls each week to mediate beefs, but they’re seeing less of a need — in part, she said, because so many street group members have been killed or arrested in recent years. Their conflicts essentially burned out.

“A lot of people, unfortunately, have been killed or are in jail or prison,” she said.

At the same time, she said, job and housing opportunities for young people expanded in recent years, and grassroots organizations have evolved in their work.

Previously, she said, YEAH, which launched in 2018, paired teens with local businesses for work experience — which had its benefits but also challenges, as teens struggled to coordinate transit and stay engaged. In the last year, she said, YEAH has hired facilitators and instructors to teach trades and courses young people requested, like bathroom remodeling and auto mechanics classes for women. The courses fill up and students show up — and get paid to do it.

“Things change when they have something to lose,” she said.

Tyrone Sims, a longtime Cobbs Creek resident and community organizer, said drug activity in the neighborhood has fallen since the height of the pandemic. A lot of the dealers who were selling drugs during that time were killed, he said, and it seems the younger crews stepping into the role prefer to handle transactions by phone or from inside homes, rather than standing on the corners.

He believes Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s “clean and green” initiative has also improved people’s relationship with the area, and hopes it will continue long-term.

Sims, known by his nickname, “Mr. Cakes,” has worked in violence intervention in West Philly for most of his life and ran a basketball program for 30 years. He has mediated neighborhood conflicts, mentored young people, and tried to persuade drug dealers to find another path.

Too often, he said, community programs cater to what adults think young people want — sports, video games, and computer programs. What about the teens interested in painting, guitar lessons, or carpentry? he asked.

He recalled a time when a talented member of his basketball team confided that he didn’t actually enjoy the sport and, instead, wanted to draw. By the following week — even to the detriment of his team — Sims had enrolled him in an art program.

“We need to lead them on a path to hope,” he said. “We need to say, ‘Come on, kids, tell me your dreams.’”

Kameenah Bronzell, 18, partially credits the drop in violence to expanded opportunities for young people. Still, she said, there are significant barriers to access.

Bronzell, who runs a memorial page for young gun violence victims on Instagram called PhillyAngelsss, had enrolled in a welding program last year in North Philadelphia. She was eager to learn the trade, she said, but it was a challenge getting to the program from South Philly. Ubers were too expensive, and the bus inconsistent, so she had to drop out. There is no such program in her neighborhood, she said.

She’s now working at a nearby Dollar Store. She hopes to return to the trade eventually.

In her free time, she runs the Instagram page with budding hope — fewer young people are dying.

“But I still post the ones who are still on the page, for their birthdays, their anniversaries,” she said. “People are still gone.”

At the peak of the city’s violence crisis, Kensington had the highest rate of shootings, driven largely by its sprawling open-air drug market. Last year, the neighborhood, while still plagued by compounding crises, saw one of the most dramatic reductions in violence in the city as shootings fell to their lowest level in at least a decade.

Even as the drug market continues to thrive, the reduction in violence makes the work of community groups feel worthwhile, said Pastor Oliver “O.J.” Fallins, who runs Changing Lives for Christ Church, on the corner of Frankford Avenue and Tioga Street.

“The most violent people we’ve found in that area are the most hurt,” he said.

The church has sought to help people with criminal records or limited job histories find work. Many people who come to the church struggle to read and write, Fallins said, so they’ve set up times to help them fill out job applications as they search for family-sustaining employment.

The need — for both those programs and religious worship — is so great that the church is at capacity each Sunday service, he said. In the coming months, the church plans to move to a larger building a few miles north in Bridesburg. He intends to run buses from Kensington to the new location, but still worries about the loss to the community.

“With this new facility we’ll be able to do more — put on cooking classes, teaching programs for kids, dancing and music classes,” he said. “Activities that are needed.”

Violence often comes in waves, and right now, the city is benefiting from the natural decline after a significant spike, said Andre Simms, executive director of DayOneNotDayTwo, which works to engage young people in North Philly and Delaware County through music, art, and community organizing.

“We get into this mode of ‘Let’s celebrate, crime has dropped,’” Simms said. “A lot of people died, a lot of people got locked up.”

Even as gun crime falls, he said, it’s important not to lose sight of its enduring root causes: The poverty rate remains high, the schools are still failing, people of color are still disproportionately being shot and incarcerated, access to mental health care remains limited, and many young people continue to be raised in single-parent homes.

The expansion of community-based organizations like his, which is now three years old, has provided more support to teens, he said, but for the most part kids in North Philadelphia still lack places to safely hang out after school and on the weekends.

“This is a generational fight,” he said. “We really got to attack the root causes.”