When the Toronto Youth Equity Strategy was first introduced on the floor of council in 2014, city staff could not have been clearer about why the report had been put in front of municipal decision-makers.The goal of the strategy, said Chris Brillinger, the city’s executive director of social development, finance and administration, is to “no longer see youth die in this city from violence.”Council would go on to unanimously approve the strategy, developed over a year, which contains 110 specific actions to provide marginalized youth with the support, space, training and tools to escape or avoid a cycle of violence that continues to claim many lives.But as violence escalates, with gunfire spiking this summer, the Star has learned that strategy is severely and chronically underfunded, leaving staff with little resources. For the life-changing programs that are underway, the funding they receive is tenuous, leaving them constantly at risk of folding.Seminal research presented to the province a decade ago now on the roots of youth violence offered clear recommendations on how to tackle the issues. That study formed the basis of the youth equity strategy in 2014. But without adequate funding, the recommendations the study contained have yet to be fully realized. A co-author of that report, city staff and those working directly with youth say the problems have not changed in 10 years. The only issue, they say, is whether there is political will to carry out the plan we already have in place.The stakes are incredibly high.Since the youth equity strategy was first approved by council on Feb. 19, 2014, 144 youth aged 13 to 29 — the strategy’s target age range — have been victims of homicide in Toronto, according to a database the Star’s librarians maintain using police data and public reports (Several domestic incidents, which mostly involve parents and children, were not included in this analysis).That is about one youth killed ...
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