Pennsylvania’s community-based programs often provide necessary services to the members enrolled throughout the Commonwealth. Many focus on Pennsylvania’s youth, looking to reduce, ideally eliminate, indoctrination into violence and instead empower young people to learn and grow as leaders.
One such program is Beyond the Bars, a student-driven and community-based nonprofit that is dedicated to interrupting cycles of violence while helping students recognize their potential by empowering youth through music and leadership development. The program has grown significantly thanks to the investment of the Commonwealth’s Violence Intervention and Prevention (VIP) program, which has provided more than $530,000 in support.
Beginning in 2015 as a single music program inside a city jail, Beyond the Bars continued to grow, receiving multiple grants over the years, including a $285,000 VIP grant back in January, which helped expand its trauma-informed “Ecosystem of Support” program. With this support, the program grew to 56 music labs in schools, shelters, trauma clinics, foster care settings, and diversion programs across the City of Philadelphia, and now partners with over 35 organizations to provide wraparound services to youth.
As a part of a continued commitment to investing in community-based violence prevention, Shapiro recently met with a number of young people, local educators, community leaders, and elected officials at the Community Education Center, including students and teachers at Beyond the Bars.
“Every Pennsylvanian deserves to be safe and feel safe in their community — and my administration has invested in law enforcement and community-based efforts to reduce violence,” said Shapiro. “In order to build safer communities, we need a comprehensive public safety strategy — and my administration has made historic investments, supporting law enforcement and delivering funding directly to the communities doing the hard work to create pathways to opportunity for our young people.
“Programs like Beyond the Bars are proof that when we invest in our young people and lift up community-based solutions, we can break cycles of violence and build safer, stronger communities.”
For more information on the work of Beyond the Bars, visit beyondthebarsmusic.org.
