Senator Arlen Specter - Pennsylvania

Arlen Specter - U.S. Senator - Pennsylvania

August 28th, 2006

SENATORS SANTORUM AND SPECTER ANNOUNCE FUNDING TO PREVENT YOUTH VIOLENCE

Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senators Rick Santorum (R-PA), Chairman of the Senate Republican Conference, and Arlen Specter (R-PA), a senior member of the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee, announced today that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has awarded The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia $851,383 in funding to establish an Urban Partnership Academic Center (U-PACE) in order to prevent youth violence.

“This important funding being awarded to The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia is a welcomed blessing to the City of Philadelphia,” said Senator Santorum. “It is my hope that the Urban Partnership Academic Center will work to drastically reduce youth violence.”

“I am pleased that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has awarded this important federal funding to The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia,” Senator Specter said. “The research and programs offered by the Urban Partnership Academic Center seeks to reduce youth violence in Philadelphia where rates remain unacceptably high.”

In June of 2005, Santorum and Specter convened a field hearing in Philadelphia to examine the issue of youth violence. Additionally, in the Fiscal Year 2006 Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations bill the Senators secured language to help direct this important funding to Philadelphia.

According to data from CDC, homicide is the second leading cause of death among young people ages 10 to 24 across the nation. In addition, violence disproportionately affects youth living in urban communities. In Philadelphia, more than 60 percent of the perpetrators and 40 percent of the victims of homicides are 24 years old or younger. The homicide rate among Philadelphian youth is five-times higher than the national average.

The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia Urban Partnership Academic Center will work to build beneficial collaborations among health scientists, social scientists, and the targeted Philadelphia community to reduce the incidence of youth violence, injury and death.

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