Pennsylvania
Lt. Gov. Davis announces $56M to strengthen after-school programs
Under that backdrop, Davis, along with state and local leaders, gathered at the Northeast Frankford Boys & Girls Club to announce 46 grants totaling $56.5 million for 113 projects aimed at reducing community and gun violence, as well as supporting after-school programming.
In Philadelphia and throughout the state, there is a diverse range of program options available.
“It is critical that we create multiple ladders of opportunities for young people to succeed … making sure that they don’t turn towards violence,” Davis said.
Having been a part of the program for nearly a decade, 17-year-old Mahiyah Azuakoemu finds the Boys & Girls Clubs of Northeast Frankford to be a safe place from the violence prevalent in her Kensington neighborhood.
“Going home is like a nightmare,” Azuakoemu said. “Being exposed to the gun violence or the drugs or the profanity, it’s a lot.”
Azuakoemu walks with her brother to school, carefully navigating around discarded syringes and observing individuals with visible injuries and open wounds.
“It’s normal to us now,” Azuakoemu said. “It doesn’t faze us anymore.”
Since joining the Boys & Girls Club at the age of 8, she has emerged as a leader for her peers.
“If they’re having a bad day, it’s always nice to be heard, to be able to express yourself,” Azuakoemu said. “We have to be able to see and hear the children or else it’s not gonna be good for the future.”
On most days, she motivates kids to show their feelings through art and other fun activities at the club.
“I love painting,” Azuakoemu said.
Proponents of gun violence prevention assert that gun violence disseminates through social networks and is exacerbated by long-standing inequities and public health disparities.
“Boost can halt the spread by enriching children with mentors and skills and love,” said Debra O’Connor, executive director of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America.
Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America is a grassroots movement advocating for stronger gun laws, closing safety loopholes and promoting responsible gun ownership to combat gun violence and protect families.
O’Connor contends that there is insufficient funding and that more people need to care.
“We lift the messages of the many anti-gun violence groups who have had boots on the ground for decades. And we know that gun safety laws make a difference,” O’Connor said.
New moms now have more support with the statewide expansion of a mom-to-mom texting program through a nonprofit called NurturePA.
Six thousand moms in Allegheny County have used the free service since NurturePA started it in 2014. It’s now open to anyone in Pennsylvania who’s pregnant or caring for a child up to age five. Trained mentors, who are moms themselves, are paired with a new mom for anonymous, nonjudgmental texting support.
Sharon Welburn used the service with her firstborn child and loved having someone to vent to and learn from.
“I didn’t realize how common jaundice in babies was until my baby was jaundiced,” Welburn said. “I was panicking that I did something wrong, and then my mentor texted, ‘You’re OK. You’re not doing anything wrong. It’s something that sometimes happens. My kid had jaundice when they were born.’”
The trained mentors screen for postpartum depression eight times in the first year after the baby is born. NurturePA Executive Director Susan Crookston says the service is especially ideal for moms in rural areas who are further from support networks. She says for many new moms, having a baby can feel disorienting because so much changes.
“New baby, new everything,” Crookston said. “Your body is different … Every element of your life can be upended by a baby, and though it’s a wonderful and joyous experience, it’s also incredibly challenging.”
Nurture PA is also collecting parenting wisdom from moms across Pennsylvania to be shared across their platforms and in an art exhibit.
To share your words of wisdom or enroll in the free mom-to-mom texting service as a new mom or a mentor, go to the NurturePA website. And for more advice and local resources for new parents, go to Kidsburgh.org.
KDKA is proud to partner with kidsburgh.org.
A man died after the vehicle he was working on fell off jack stands in Jefferson County, Pennsylvania, officials said.
Gage Alexander Rowe died on Monday afternoon following the fatal accident in a garage in Warsaw Township, CBS affiliate WTAJ reported.
Citing Jefferson County Coroner Greg Furlong, the news outlet reported that first responders were called to the garage on Milliron Road around 2 p.m. on Monday. Investigators reportedly said the 25-year-old man was working underneath a vehicle when the jacks holding up the vehicle gave out, killing him.
First responders were called to the home after family members became concerned when Rowe didn’t arrive at a gathering and was unreachable by phone, WTAJ reported.
The 25-year-old man’s cause of death was blunt force trauma, and it was ruled accidental. Authorities did not release any additional information.
An investigation is underway after a person’s body was found in a burned out vehicle on Tuesday, according to the Berks County Coroner’s Office.
Authorities were called to the 400 block of Friedensburg Road in Oley, Pennsylvania, around 9:43 a.m. on Tuesday, May 26 for reports of a van on fire, officials said.
Once the fire was put out, officials reported finding a person’s body in the back of the van so the Berks County Coroner was called to the scene.
The person has not yet been identified but an autopsy is scheduled for Thursday, May 28 to help authorities uncover more information.
The investigation into this case is ongoing.
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