Local advocates take to the streets to help those who are struggling in Philadelphia

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- For the next 30 nights, pastors, advocates, and local leaders will walk the streets of Philadelphia to bring much-needed light to those struggling in darkness.

They started at Broad Street and Erie Avenue in Tioga-Nicetown on Saturday night.

"Our hope is to engage with these women and men on street corners and provide them a path and alternative to the life of crime," said Reverend G. Lamar Stewart, the founder of Taylor MADE Opportunities.

Stewart is leading the group for the third annual Corners to Connections Violence Interruption Initiative during National Gun Violence Awareness Month.

Stewart said they'll walk from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. to help those who are suffering with the program's five pillars: healing, hiring, harmony, housing, and hope.

"We want to bring those services. Not say, 'Hey, go to this place to get those services,' but we're bringing them right here to the street corner to those in need," said Stewart.

Stewart said their partners include employers, mental health therapists, and mentors who truly understand - like Darien Shuler, who went to prison for 11 years for various crimes.

"Who else better than someone like myself to come out and interact and engage with brothers and sisters who have probably walked down the same road I have walked down, the same struggles, the same hopelessness," said Shuler.

He says he's sharing his story to show proof of hope and redemption.

"They are somebody," said Shuler. "We love them. We care about them, and we're going to be out here every night during the month of June, for the months to come, for the years to come to give them an opportunity."

Stewart said an event is scheduled on June 27 at SEPTA on Broad Street and Eerie Avenue, where people can meet with about 50 vendors, including employees and therapists.

Anyone looking for more information on these initiatives can visit Taylor MADE Opportunities on Instagram.