Public policy needs to aid peace efforts
LAST WEEKEND Teen Empowerment held its 17th annual Youth Peace Conference at the Jeremiah E. Burke High School in Dorchester. As reported in the Globe ("Hub teens decry youth violence," Metro, May 10), hundreds of young people attended this event, held a half mile from the site of the brutal murder of eighth-grader Soheil Turner as he waited for the bus to school.
I am quoted as saying, "When you have a massive movement of young people, you can have change." The context for this assertion is the experience of substantial and sustained decreases in violence and crime in the inner city in the 1990s, when the state provided significant funding for youth services and youth leadership jobs. Crime statistics in that era dramatically illustrate the positive impact that public policy can have on the lives of young people and their communities. Unfortunately, cutbacks made in 2002 under Governor Romney provide clear evidence of negative impact; we have seen a major increase in violence in inner-city neighborhoods since these cuts were implemented.
The recent House budget would cut total funding for a violence-prevention program and halve funding for an anti-gang effort. The Senate's proposed budget cuts would be even worse. As Joan Vennochi pointed out in her May 10 column, cuts such as these are shortsighted. I hope the Senate will reconsider and reinstate funding for these vital programs.
Stanley Pollack
Executive director
The Center for Teen Empowerment
Boston 