In neighborhoods across Philadelphia, residents are growing increasingly frustrated and fearful as gun violence continues to escalate.
Philadelphia has recorded more than 800 shootings this year — including 100 homicides — a sharp reminder that the city’s gun violence crisis remains far from resolved.
But local groups are stepping up, working to connect with youth, address root causes, and push for lasting change.
Advocacy groups, city officials and members of the community gathered at the inaugural HOPE Symposium on Gun Violence last week at Temple University, in an effort to combat the city’s gun crisis, with a specific focus on how young people across Philadelphia are impacted.
Organized by the Intercultural Family Services, under the Peer2You umbrella, the symposium took place at Temple University’s Howard Gittis Student Center on Wednesday, June 11. IFS assembled panels of professionals, advocates and gun violence survivors to speak with Philadelphians about the ongoing issue gun violence poses to the city.
“We have to take care of our future and the future of our children,” Peer2You Supervisor Kawame Curry said.
This year’s numbers
The symposium was held just weeks after a mass shooting at Fairmount Park left two people dead and nine others injured over Memorial Day weekend.
Investigators recovered 21 fired cartridge casings at Lemon Hill, city officials said. Amya Devlin, 23, and Mikhail Bowers, 21, were shot and died a short time later at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, authorities said. Nine other victims – six females and three males ranging in age from 15 to 28 – were wounded.
There have been 824 shootings in Philadelphia in 2025, a 17% drop from the year prior. Of those, 100 were killed, according to police data.
Mentorship
The Peer2You program at IFS works with youth to develop and explore life skills, as well as teach conflict mediation, conflict resolution and how to control temperament. According to Curry, if youth have the necessary tools, conflict is less likely to result in gun violence.
One unique teaching method involves visits to horse stables, where participants are taught that horses mirror human emotions—offering a powerful lesson in self-awareness and emotional control.
“Being around horses actually forces you to subdue your passion, subdue your temperament, and those are the exact skills and things you need when it comes to conflict,” Curry said.
Last week’s symposium was held as the School District of Philadelphia enters summer break, a point highlighted multiple times throughout the symposium.
According to Curry, summer brings increased opportunities for interaction among the city’s youth—but with more free time, the risk of conflict also rises. To help reduce the risks that come with increased idle time, Peer2You offers a six-week Summer Enrichment Program, providing a safe space where young people can have fun, connect with mentors, and gain hands-on experience in various trades.
Curry himself was a part of a mentoring program while growing up in Detroit. He said because of those programs, similar to Peer2You, he was able to change the direction of his life, whereas some of his peers never made it out.
“I grew up with the same advantages and disadvantages as them [his peers], but the only difference I found is that me being in peer mentoring, I was exposed to different choices and different options that they necessarily weren’t,” Curry said.
On a larger scale
District Attorney Larry Krasner participated in an open discussion alongside Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel during the HOPE Symposium, where he compared Philadelphia’s gun violence rates to other countries.
Krasner cited Germany’s homicide and incarceration rates — which are just 11% of Philadelphia’s, meaning for every 100 homicides in the city of Philadelphia, there are 11 in Germany.
“Simply put, the United States and the City of Philadelphia should be safer and they should be freer and they should be that all at the same time,” Krasner said. “It’s not hard, it’s something that is actually done all over the world.”
Krasner said the answer to the city’s issue of gun violence lies in rehabilitation and prevention, “not flooding an entire society with more guns than people.”
People first
Various panelists shared insights on creating a safer community and preventing gun violence, saying it requires genuine connection, practical support and a commitment to understanding effective solutions.
“Once that trigger is pulled, it affects every single person…” panelist and Managing Partner and Head of Government Relations at Maven Inc., Malcolm Yates, said. “So, we can’t just necessarily look at one side of the gun.”
Three things happen when an act of gun violence is committed, according to Yates, and to effectively combat gun violence, all three must be recognized — the victim’s life, the perpetrator’s life, and the family and community lives are all affected.
A large part of intervention at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia’s Center for Violence Prevention, according to Dr. Ruth Abaya is to “treat the whole person.”
An opportunity of intervention and prevention presents itself as soon as someone comes through the door into the hospital, Abaya explained.
Recognizing where patients come from, the trauma that informs their exposure to gun violence before they cross the hospital’s threshold — the stories, the lack of opportunities they may have — are all a part of the patient’s injury.
“No one lives just as a patient with an injury. They come from somewhere, and they have a story that walks in the door with them, and when we treat just the injury, we miss an opportunity to transform someone’s life course,” Abaya said.
By introducing interventions that treat the whole person, there is more opportunity to prevent a repeat injury, and also heal the trauma, Abaya explained.
“If we follow sound policies on prevention, sound policies on modern law enforcement, there’s no reason why we have to be known as a violent, dangerous city compared to other major American cities,” Krasner added.
Guided healing
IFS was founded in 1979 initially as a refugee center to address immigration. Over the years, it evolved into a human service agency with the idea that every person should have the opportunity to thrive no matter their situation.
Chief Executive Officer of IFS, Javier Alvarado, said the passion he has for IFS and its programs comes from personal experience.
Alvarado, a veteran who served in the military for nearly 30 years with combat deployments, said he has experienced anxiety that he would not make it back home.
“The idea that kids feel that way. It was my choice. When you go to war, oftentimes it’s your choice to serve. A lot of these kids don’t have that choice,” Alvarado said. “So that anxiety and that trauma — that environment that they have to live with everyday — is incredibly sad, and it’s something that we all should be a part of trying to solve and impact in a positive way.”
Counseling, peer support, and victim advocacy services are available for victims, family members, and others affected by gun violence. Go to metrophiladelphia.com/gun-violence-resources for more information.
