SITE OVERVIEW ♦ PHILADELPHIA | PENNSYLVANIA
Target Area: Mantua • Population: 6,200
Fiscal Agent: Mount Vernon Manor
Research Partner: Drexel University
Crime Concerns: Homicides, burglaries, robberies, and other violent crimes
BCJI Funding Year: 2012 Planning & Enhancement
Neighborhood Profile
Located in West Philadelphia, the Mantua community comprises approximately 10 square blocks and is predominantly African American. About one-third of Mantua’s residents live in poverty and only 40 percent of all adults have a high school diploma. High rates of criminal justice system involvement add to the community’s unemployment, recidivism, and crime challenges. Crime, poverty, and geographic isolation have led to political isolation and an inability to access city services. As a result, the community has historically low levels of collective efficacy. However, the target area is in close proximity to Drexel University, which has changed the dynamics of the neighborhood as well as the City at large.
Planning Process
During the planning phase in 2013, BCJI partners employed a multi-method strategy to develop a full picture of crime patterns and drivers.The various methods included a process evaluation, crime analysis, community survey, and two focus groups.The findings identified many identifiable hot spots in Mantua with different explanations that can be summarized within five main drivers: active outdoor drug sale locations that occasionally erupt with violence due to drug-related disputes; high incidence of alcohol establishments that correlate with disorderly and criminal behavior; clusters of robberies in areas frequented by Drexel students; vacant lots and abandoned housing structures where drug activity and violence occurs; and recreational areas that attract kids and teens, sometime the site of conflicts. All of the above informed an approach to implementation that emphasized resident engagement and place remediation/control, bolstering prior work of the Mantua Choice Neighborhoods Initiative.
Implementation Strategies
Starting in late 2013, the Philadelphia BCJI team pursued implementation of a comprehensive effort to reduce crime in response to planning findings. Major strategies included:
- Physical revitalization and management activites including Crime Prevention Through Environment Design (CPTED) projects, greenway clean-up and vacant property maintenance. In addition, the development organization Mount Vernon Manor continued affordable housing renovation in the target area.
- Civic engagement and block leader organizing, including training for volunteer leaders and supporting relationships for community-police problem-solving.
- Strategic policing initiatives including continued hot spot policing, juvenile justice interventions and violence reduction efforts.
Crime dropped in the Mantua BCJI target area from fall 2013 (start of BCJI implementation) to late 2014 (date of last analysis). Comparing the third quarter of 2014 to the third quarter of 2013, aggravated assaults were down 41%, burglary was down 64% and robbery was down 40%. Analysis of crime in specific hot spots shows similar promising results.
The success of the We Are Mantua! resident organizing effort has been a particularly notable part of Philadelphia BCJI work. Building on efforts to mobilize neighbors as part of a prior Choice Planning Award, BCJI leaders have trained 89 block leaders representing 71 blocks across Mantua throughout the project period. Responding to resident interests and analysis of environmental crime drivers, block leaders are now ambassadors for beautification and greening, energy efficiency and other issues that will help the community respond to issues with litter and abandoned properties.
During the BCJIMantua was included as part of a successful bid for Promise Zone designation. The BCJI and Promise Zone Public Safety Committees subsequently combined, operating as one working group with a significant focus in the Mantua neighborhood. Local leaders sited two main reasons for this integration in 2015: 1) Mantua drives 75% - 85% of Part I and II crime inside the Promise Zone, and 2) As the BCJI grant term nears its end, PZ partnerships and leadership promise to be critical to sustaining the strategies and collaborative approach. In 2016, Philadelphia BCJI leaders are working with the National Coalition Building Institute to implement an intensive training with police officers and residents to encourage greater trust and collaboration.
Featuring this Site
- BCJI leaders from Philadelphia presented on their approach to community engagement in this webinar.
- Read highlights from Philadelphia’s presentation to BCJI leaders at a grantee meeting in this Institute for Comprehensive Community Development article.
This web site is funded in part, through a grant from the Bureau of Justice Assistance, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. Neither the U.S. Department of Justice nor any of its components operate, control, are responsible for, or necessarily endorse, this web site (including, without limitation, its content, technical infrastructure, and policies, and any services or tools provided).