Committee to study opening resource centers for youth, families in Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh officials on Monday announced members of a new committee that will study curbing youth violence in the city and launching resource centers geared toward youth and families.

Pittsburgh City Council President Theresa Kail-Smith and Mayor Ed Gainey teamed up to form the new Advisory Committee for Youth and Family Resource Centers.

The goal is to create new 24-hour resource centers where young people and their families could get help and find a safe space in the midst of increasing violence in the city.

The nine-member committee is tasked with finding ways to use existing city assets to launch those resource centers.

“I believe the work of this committee will be critical for our long-term work to bring peace to our city,” Gainey said in a statement. “This is about coming up with ways to use all our city resources to help provide new opportunities and pathways for our kids, while making sure their parents have access to the resources they need.”

The committee will include city Councilmen Ricky Burgess, Anthony Coghill and R. Daniel Lavelle; and these city officials: Ricky Moody, community health and human services policy manager; Diane Holder, community engagement specialist; Lisa Frank, chief administration and operations officer; Kathryn Vargas, director of parks and recreation; and David Jones, assistant director of community affairs in the Department of Public Safety.

“This is about saving lives,” Council President Theresa Kail-Smith said. “We need to do all we can to make sure our kids can have someplace safe to be and that we are connecting parents and guardians with the help they need.”

Kail-Smith has said she’d like to see recreation centers launching by spring or early summer when students are out of school.

The idea for the committee to investigate resource centers came after Kail-Smith had previously proposed ramping up enforcement of a citywide curfew for minors and opening resource centers to take kids who violated the curfew. Gainey voiced concerns about a curfew and the two agreed to instead focus on the resource centers for youth.