FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 16, 2023
MEDIA CONTACT
Maria Lee, Media & Communications, maria.lee@cityoftacoma.org, (253) 591-2054
Responding to Youth Gun Violence, City Council Unanimously Adopts Resolution 41197 Establishing $300,000 in Additional Funding for Youth Summer Programming in Tacoma
TACOMA, Wash. – Tonight, the City Council unanimously adopted Resolution 41197, directing City Manager Elizabeth Pauli to take several key actions addressing the issue of youth violence in Tacoma. At-Large Council Member Kiara Daniels was joined by co-sponsors Mayor Victoria Woodards, Deputy Mayor Kristina Walker and District 4 Council Member Catherine Ushka in bringing forward Resolution 41197.
“In light of the national gun violence crisis facing young people today, and our city’s own experiences losing beloved children in gun-related homicides, we are redoubling our efforts to address youth violence and taking urgent action to protect kids this summer,” said Council Member Daniels. “We simply will not stand by while we lose our kids to gun violence. We also understand that longer-term work is needed to ensure the City is investing in violence prevention, and this resolution paves the way for that work. It is my hope that other government partners will use this resolution as a model to reflect their shared dedication to addressing youth violence.”
With government partners such as Tacoma Public Schools and Metro Parks Tacoma, as well as a coalition of providers combining efforts to take immediate action, Resolution 41197 provides $200,000 to support opening Whole Child Safe Zone sites – a new program for this summer that seeks to create up to 12 safe spaces for teens attending Tacoma Public Schools. The resolution also provides $100,000 for expanded summer programming for middle and high school aged youth.
Along with the Whole Child Safe Zone sites, Resolution 41197 seeks to ensure that development of our Community Safety Strategy includes efforts to identify data-driven goals for reducing gun violence, create pathways beyond policing for violence prevention, and prioritize violence prevention among Black male youth, ages 12 - 18.
Additionally, the resolution directs the City Manager to partner with public policy research organizations on youth asset mapping and work toward expanding collaborative efforts around violence prevention programming to better reach those populations who are most at risk. It also calls for additional research into enhancing safe storage for firearms and analysis into recent federal legislation that may help curb gun violence in Tacoma.
“We remain deeply committed to addressing the issue of youth violence,” said Mayor Woodards. “We will continue to collaborate with our community partners – including Pierce County, Metro Parks Tacoma, Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department, Tacoma Public Schools, the Puyallup Tribe of Indians, and Pierce Transit – in an effort to better align and focus our resources in support of our youth. I invite others who want to join us in our efforts to do so, because it will take all of us working together to make a difference.”
“I am very proud of this resolution and our collaborative work with our community partners,” said Deputy Mayor Walker. “This resolution is a call to action for our city and we must all work together to protect our kids. There are no easy answers, but we will not give up on our kids.”
“Every child deserves to survive to adulthood. The City of Tacoma has an obligation to do everything we can to make that happen. This resolution builds on the City’s youth violence reduction work to make critical headway on the long-term collective action necessary to confront the issue of youth violence. Thank you to Council Member Daniels for her leadership and for bringing this resolution forward,” said Council Member Ushka.
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