Pittsburgh is launching a new mentoring program intended to connect struggling parents with information and resources, part of a broader approach to public safety that aims to make homes safer and get children ready to learn at an early age.
“A lot of people don’t get this information until they get a court order. They don’t have a tendency to go reach for the information they need,” said Maria Bethel, nuisance and disruptive properties coordinator in the city’s Department of Public Safety. “Sometimes it’s not that they don’t want to learn, it’s that they don’t know how to access it.”
Called Promised Beginnings, the program was approved Tuesday by city council as a new initiative under the existing Safer Together community partnership program. It won’t cost the city any money and will take place in each of the city’s six police zones to link parents with speakers from child welfare agencies, Pittsburgh Public Schools, the Pittsburgh Promise education fund and police, among others, Ms. Bethel said.
“There are a lot of resources throughout the city operating in their own little vacuums,” said Public Safety Director Stephen Bucar.
The goal is “better kids, better adults and better neighborhoods,” said Ms. Bethel, a former child advocate for Court Appointed Special Advocates.
“If we are working to provide these services and information beforehand, from a very early age, we can reduce the crime and violence that’s occurring in our city through those teenage years,” she added.
The city conducted a pilot version in the East Hills neighborhood in April that drew about 10 parents and grandparents and included information on stages of child development, child care, safe sleep positions for infants and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, as well as kindergarten registration packets. It also featured remarks from Assistant Police Chief Maurita Bryant and Zone 5 Cmdr. Jason Lando, part of a broader effort by Mr. Bucar and Chief Cameron McLay to repair community relationships with the police bureau.
“I always feel that if we are to have these better relationships, then we need to create the occasion for them to have those experiences with police officers,” Ms. Bethel said.
The property manager and education director at East Hills could not be reached for comment.
City council members were enthusiastic about the initiative during a discussion last week.
“We need to do more on the preventative side and not just the reactionary side,” said Councilwoman Theresa Kail-Smith, who represents the West End. “There’s a lot of kids who could achieve a lot higher if we would just set the standard a little higher and expect better behavior from our kids. … People don’t know where to turn for any of these programs or any of these services.”
Robert Zullo: rzullo@post-gazette.com, 412-263-3909 or on Twitter @rczullo.
First Published: June 11, 2015, 4:00 a.m.