By now, it is clear that gang violence never unfolds in isolation.

The lives of angry youth and innocent bystanders intersect in many sad ways, none more terrible than the shootings at the Eaton Centre’s food court and the Danzig community housing summer barbecue.

Yes, the gang members and their parents are ultimately responsible but we’ve long known how to reach kids early and change lives through the simple concept of community recreation programs like sports, homework clubs or mentoring.

That is why Toronto City Council should support a plan to increase funding for impoverished youth “priority centres,” during its Nov. 27 meeting. Fiscal restraint may be the mantra du jour, but there’s no justification for stinginess with life-altering programs like this.

Its most vocal proponent, Councillor Maria Augimeri, says the $4.5-million plan to increase “priority centres” from 22 to 39 across the city is money that will pay itself back in many untold ways. “Recreation in Toronto is not about semi-private tennis lessons,” says Augimeri. “It’s about getting kids off the street, saving lives. It’s the difference between a family making it and a family ending up with youth in jail. It’s about community safety.”

And that affects us all. The plan endorsed by Toronto’s community development and recreation committee last week seeks money to run programs in existing buildings, like libraries, schools and public rooms in Toronto Community Housing.

A lot of low-income parents work two or three jobs, forcing their children to fend for themselves. With the new priority centres, kids who would otherwise hang out after school now have a place to go where they can read, play games or just feel safe. They will have access to strong adult figures, which makes a world of difference to some. Research shows that without healthy connections to adults, kids will try to dominate each other, and that turns into bullying and violence. Taken to the extreme, it can lead to gunfire in public places.

If council agrees to fund the program, Augimeri wants the city to speed it up, aiming for next year instead of 2014. She is right to push for fast change, because now, with a patchwork of program locations, kids in some impoverished areas are lucky while others get nothing.

Unfortunately, Mayor Rob Ford has dismissed plans like these before, calling them “hug-a-thug” programs. He’s wrong about that. Instead, council should look to Ford’s passion for helping young people through coaching high-school football as inspiration to help other, equally deserving youth, by jump-starting new programs as fast as it can. The benefits will be plentiful, for us all.

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