VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — CORRECTION: This story has been updated to correct the attribution of a quote from Virginia Beach Parks & Recreation Director Michael Kirschman, as well as the actions the Virginia Beach City Council took Tuesday.
Virginia Beach City Council is one step closer to approving hundreds of thousands of dollars for a program dedicated to ending youth gun violence across the Resort City.
On Tuesday, City Council members discussed expanding the Parks After Dark program, which could now cost $353,072 to keep the program going. A spokesperson for Virginia Beach said Wednesday that council members will need to vote to appropriate the funds for a future agenda item.
"It is expensive? Yes," said Mayor Bobby Dyer, Virginia Beach. "But is it worth it? Absolutely."
The program Parks After Dark got started in Virginia Beach after a slew of gun violence involving children shook the Level Green neighborhood in 2023.
Now a year later, Virginia Beach Police have since investigated two homicides involving children in that same neighborhood. However, program directors said they are seeing the benefits and impacts of this program every day.
"We've had parents come up to us and say, we don't have money for vacation - we are coming here every night," said Michael Kirschman, the City of Virginia Beach Parks & Recreation director. "Can we say that we are seeing a direct reduction in crime? We hope so."
According to preliminary findings, city council members said Virginia Beach Police have found several positive outcomes from the installation of the Parks After Dark Program.
They hope to see how the program will do once it is expanded to other communities including the Green Run and College Park communities by 2025.
For now, Parks After Dark meets every Thursday, Friday and Saturday night at Williams Farm Park until August 24th. It is free for residents to attend.