A pastor from Philadelphia, who is in Bermuda on vacation, has spoken out against the rise of violence in the Island and offered solutions that are working in his town.

Pastor Aaron Smallwood of The House, a Communion of Convergence Church, has been visiting Bermuda since 2001.

Throughout his visits here, he has noticed the rise in violence. He feels that it is not yet beyond repair and can still be controlled in its current state.

Pastor Smallwood, who until recently held the responsibility of middle school teacher and pastor, said that in Philadelphia he had seen the effects of crime on a regular basis.

"From 8 a.m. until 4 p.m. I would see the anger in the children that I taught in the inner-city schools, and then after I would be dealing with anger from the rest of the community through my pastoral duties."

He said that the violence in Philadelphia has now spread throughout the city and affects all social economic classes and races.

"Wealthy or poor, it doesn't matter violence is an issue, any of them can and have been innocent bystanders."

Since 2006, Philadelphia has the highest number of violent crimes out of the United States' 10 largest cities.

Pastor Smallwood noted that male ex-offenders committed nearly 90 percent of the murders in 2006. These are men who had served time in the prison and were released with no life or job skills and a criminal record which follows them.

As a result of them not being adequately rehabilitated their recidivism rate, in terms of them re-offending, was very high.

He said that the Mayor of Philadelphia, Michael Nutter, incorporated a programme called: 'Mayo's Office for the Re-Entry of Ex-Offenders'.

It is a programme which incorporated the issuing of a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) from organisations that provide services for men and women returning home from prison.

These wrap-around services aide in the successful reintegration of individuals from State, Federal and local jails back into local Philadelphia communities, thereby increasing public safety and effectively reducing the rate of recidivism.

He said: "The Mayor's Office solicited the assistance and the participation of faith-based and community programmes to partner resources and expertise to combat the issues.

"Networks of these service providers were put in place to offer opportunities for support toward the successful service of the returning population.

"They put together comprehensive services including Wrap-Around supports either as a direct service or by referral, such as Alcohol and Drug Abuse Recovery Services, Behavioural Health Services, Case Management, Educational advancement supports, Employment Services, Work Readiness/Job Training, Job Placement, Job Retention, Family Services, Housing, and Mentoring/Life Coaching etc."

When comparing the violence in Philadelphia to the rise in violence in Bermuda, Pastor Smallwood said that it needs to be addressed on a Governmental level embracing similar strategies to what is used in Philadelphia.

"The violence here is no where near the level that it is back home, but I have seen it get worse over the seven years that I have visited the Island.

"All hope is not lost but it needs to be dealt with on a Governmental level, but not just the Government, this needs to be a collaborative effort, no one is working together."

Pastor Smallwood describes other community efforts which have shown improvement in his community.

A programme that has recently started among the Muslim community has branched off to receive Governmental support due to its effectiveness.

"Many of the influential men of the Muslim religion have started to hit the streets. They began to go into the neighbourhoods and talk to the young people taking on the father figure role, which was lacking.

"Every Friday they do this and it seems to be effective."

This group is now a non-profit funded organisation, which works closely with the Government, and other positive men have joined in the movement.

Pastor Smallwood noted some less then effective methods that the Island is taking to address the issues at hand.

He mentioned that he was here when motivational speaker Les Brown came to the Island for the Hott1075 Peace Rally. He said: "Mr. Brown is a powerful speaker with a lot of insight."

He added: "He came to Philly to speak, and it was excellent, but motivational speakers are usually not very effective because first, after their speeches, most of the message is forgotten and second, they usually are not speaking to those that need to hear their message, they are speaking to the converted."

He also noticed that here in Bermuda, but particularly in the United States, there is a big financial market for murders.

Many businesses capitalise on selling death paraphernalia such as t-shirts, tattoos and air brushings.

He said: "When someone dies or is killed, especially if it raises a lot of media attention, these industries such as tattoo parlours and airbrush artists know that they are going to make a lot of money off of the deaths because, young people in particular, like to memorialise the deaths with R.I.P's."

The Philadelphia pastor came up with some solutions that he feels the Island can utilise immediately with immediate results.

He said that organisations such as businesses and faith-based organisations need to work together on whatever solutions they deem effective.

"There needs to be a collaborative effort among the Island's organisations and business."

He also mentioned that there was a luncheon held in Philadelphia where all religious heads were brought together to address non-violent anger management strategies.

He said: "In the school system conflict resolution classes were incorporated, everyone has to do their part.

"Teachers also need to get involved with their individual classrooms through positive reinforcement – have your students recite affirmations everyday until they believe them."

He added: "There also must be a stronger effort on the faith based communities"

In his hometown, every first Friday night in the month, churches would get together and stand on different corners in the noted troubled areas and pray.

He said: "Every time we do this violence drops by half that night, so it works. The method of evangelism here needs to change to a cutting-edge evangelism."