Fixing York Will Require More Than Talk
The fourth most under-resourced city in America. The second most stressed city in Pennsylvania. The first of fifteen peer cities in gun violence resulting in death.
York keeps popping up in unflattering ways in the research.
I moved to York almost 20 years ago. On three separate occasions, I have tried to move away but God shut those doors.
And boy, am I glad He did.
Today, I am more convinced than ever that York and York County has great potential to achieve what other peer cities wish they could accomplish.
And it’s interesting that other cities are watching York and sending representatives here, or asking our leaders to go to their cities, to learn from us! York City police Commissioner Michael Muldrow and his violence intervention team just completed such a trip to Pine Bluff, Arkansas.
Chris Thompson, a national consultant with significant experience in helping communities collaborate, recently reinvigorated my confidence in York. He told me that in most communities in which he works, it is a struggle to find more than one community leader who is willing to act selflessly for the common good. In York, Chris has met several leaders whom he has witnessed unselfishly collaborating to turn things around.
