Federal and city officials pledge better collaboration to combat gun violence

Saying they share the goal of preventing and reducing gun violence in a city that is experiencing record numbers of killings and shootings, federal and Philadelphia officials met behind closed doors Wednesday and emerged vowing to work more collaboratively with a goal of making the city safer.

Ala Stanford, regional director of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, invited Mayor Jim Kenney, Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw, District Attorney Larry Krasner, officials from the city Fire Department, School District of Philadelphia, and Temple University, and community members to the first-of-its kind meeting.

Quarterly meetings are planned going forward, said the officials, who pledged to work together and share resources and intelligence as their respective agencies grapple with the effects of gun violence.

“Sometimes, people feel that more money is the solution to all things, but really it’s a collaboration with a common goal, with resources, with accountability,” said Stanford, a Montgomery County physician who founded the nationally acclaimed Black Doctors COVID-19 Consortium and who was appointed to her current post by President Joe Biden in AprilWe love the city. There is promise and beauty in Philadelphia that is not always portrayed,” she said. “Our children need to see more hope, they need to see more collaboration of us working together and know that we are all working toward a better future for them.”

Outlaw said she believed the new team effort was promising.