TheBurg

16 | theburgnews.com | 05.18 rePAYIng A Debt e idea that social cohesion can inoculate neighborhoods against crime isn't lost on law enforcement officials. Capt. Gabriel Olivera, chief information officer for the Harrisburg Police Bureau, said that line of thinking is "absolutely" consistent with trends he's seen in the city over the past two decades. He pointed to Harrisburg's Midtown neighborhood as one example. In the 1990s and early 2000s, he said, the intersection of Green and Muench streets was known among police officers as "Green and Murder." Over time, as residents bought homes, beautified streets and formed a neighborhood watch association, the police bureau received fewer calls to the area. e progress that's been made against urban crime has relied, in part, on vast amounts of unpaid labor by volunteer residents. If crime across the country is going to continue its downward trajectory, Sharkey said, the people who fight it at every level ought to be compensated. "e people who volunteer time to make communities safe are doing work on behalf of their city," Sharkey said. "When they're given respect and that role is valued, it makes a huge difference." Mayor Eric Papenfuse said that he finds that argument compelling, and paying the work of community organizers is something that the city can consider in the future. "It's an intriguing concept, and one that warrants thoughtful consideration," he said. "ere are some serious questions surrounding implementation, but I'm willing to explore them and possibly put forth some funding in next year's budget." But not all of Harrisburg's urban guardians agree that they should be paid for their work. Claude Phipps, a community organizer who lives in Bellevue Park, has seen local institutions wax and wane in Harrisburg his whole life. Growing up at 6th and Peffer streets, he watched the city reel from the devastation of Hurricane Agnes in 1972 and from financial hardship that followed. He reckons that the city hit "rock bottom" in the early 2000s and made a turn for the better in 2010. Today, Phipps said he's happy to volunteer his time as a neighborhood watch coordinator and conflict mediator. He sees it as "repaying a debt" to the long-ago neighbors who guarded over him as a child. Cutler, the Camp Curtin advocate, said that citizens ought to have "sweat equity" in their neighborhoods. "When you fund salaries, there's no money left for projects," she said. "ere needs to be some volunteerism, because, bottom line, you'll need money to do these projects." I posed the question of pay to a coalition of faith-based community leaders, who were meeting in the chilly basement of Derry Street United Methodist Church to plan a summer camp for children. ey stressed that the diminishing funds in a crowded nonprofit sector made it hard to ensure programming year to year. Bill Jamison, a leader of the Allison Hill Ministry, which provides after-school mentoring, outdoor education and field trips for students, said that he earns $17,000 a year while working 60 hours a week. Some years, his program receives more funding; other years, it gets less. He wouldn't object to more funding for his volunteers, but he also knows his work is too essential to cease over money disputes. "If we take these services away, that's where crime comes from," Jamison said. But Nashon Walker, CEO of Hoodrise Global, a mentorship program that works in Harrisburg city schools, thinks that community leaders and mentors should demand more pay for their work. "Inner-city outreach has been underfunded and undervalued," Walker said. "I don't have a poverty mentality." Walker lso pointed to an irony that has led politicians and researchers across the political spectrum to call for criminal justice reform. America's incarceration spree, effective though it may have been in curbing criminal activity, has borne immense social and economic costs. "is country pays billions to incarcerate," Walker said. "Why can't we pay now to set people free?" When presenting his research, Sharkey is careful to note that America's progress against crime is tenuous. Many cities across the country are seeing upticks in violent crime after years of decline. is crossroads, he said, should force American lawmakers to trade in the country's punitive criminal justice policies for programs that focus on reinvestment and economic development in cities. e good news is that these programs could look a lot like what is already in place in cities like Harrisburg, where neighborhoods self- police by tending to their public spaces, their children and their shared social bonds. "is is how violence is confronted in a sustainable way without the collateral costs of locking up half the community's population," Sharkey said. "It's an alternative model, and it should be the model." Jeremy and Jeannine Domenico have installed four security cameras in their home that keep watch over their block on S. Summit Street.

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