Boston City Council Hears Summer Safety Plan With Expanded Youth Programming

BOSTON — April 6, 2026 — Boston City Council reviews expanded summer youth safety plan ahead of tight budget season. At an April 6 hearing on Docket 0290, chaired by Councilor Erin J. Murphy and co-sponsored by Councilor Brian Worrell, administration officials described a significant expansion of Boston After Dark — from 18 events serving 1,000 young people in 2024 to 23 events serving more than 1,500 in 2025, with four Boston Housing Authority sites and new programming for 19-to-25-year-olds planned for summer 2026, including a comedy night April 30 at City Hall. Pedro Cruz, Executive Director of the Office of Youth Engagement and Advancement, said a city-wide youth resource database has grown from 300 to more than 700 entries. Isaac Gablow, Director of the Office of Violence Prevention, said violent crime is down roughly 5 percent year-to-date but acknowledged the Community Healing Response Network has been limited to weekday hours — a gap the department plans to address this summer. Councilor Miniard Culpepper pressed Gablow on whether the office's budget has grown to match its mandate; Gablow, now housed within the Boston Public Health Commission, said he could not give a firm answer until after budget codification but committed to reporting back to the council. Public commenter John Smith-St. Lear, founder of the J.L. Smith Suicide Prevention Center for Young Black Boys, told the council he personally funds weekly programming for youth in Roxbury, Dorchester, and Mattapan and called the lack of city support for grassroots organizations "not the model."