New initiative aims to clean streets, reduce violence in Northwest Philadelphia

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- A new initiative in Northwest Philadelphia is focused on cleaning up city streets in the Germantown and Mt. Airy neighborhoods.

On Tuesday afternoon, the Mt. Airy Community Development Corporation announced "Safe Steps Northwest," an initiative funded by an $818,000 grant from the PA Commission on Crime and Delinquency's Violence Intervention & Prevention program.

Safe Steps Northwest will empower neighborhoods in Northwest Philadelphia to achieve a cleaner and safer community, officials say.

State Senator Art Haywood, a Democrat representing the state's 4th district, said data shows, "The conditions in which we live have an impact on how we behave and on violence."

The National Institutes of Health issued a report on the topic in 2018 after conducting a study on the "Clean & Green Program."

It found that "community-engaged greening of vacant lots is associated with nearly a 40% reduction in assaults and total violent crime."

Street-cleaning business Glitter has been targeting trash-filled streets in Philadelphia for the past two and a half years. Morgan Berman is the founder of Glitter.

"We have about 280 blocks that are supported by a thousand neighbors across the whole city," she explained. "We have 20 cleaners getting paid $20 an hour to keep those blocks clean."

Thanks to the $818,000 grant from the state, their efforts will now expand. Starting in June, there will be weekly cleanings of 335 blocks throughout Germantown and Mt. Airy.

"They've been selected with an evidence-based approach of looking at litter index data and looking at statistics on violent crime, specifically looking block by block at where the violent crime is occurring," said Brandon Pousley, the CEO of Glitter.

The initiative will not only help clean the streets, but representatives with Glitter said it will also create jobs.

Ultimately, community leaders hope the project will sweep the streets and subsequently reduce violence.

"A lot of eyes will be on this because as we clean up this area, it will inspire others to do the same thing," said Douglas Banks, the program manager for the Safe Steps Project.

Project leaders say the cleaning will begin in June and last for five months, followed by eight months of subsidized cleaning supported by the grant.