NORTH PHILADELPHIA - Thursday is a national awareness day to shine a light on how after-school programs are helping keep kids away from violence."Night after night, it tears me up.
It tears me apart," Tahira Fortune stated.Fortune, a North Philadelphia resident, understands the pain of losing youth to gun violence, as she lost her 18-year-old son, Samir, in February 2017."He had a dream and his life was cut at 18-years-old," Fortune said.Fortune founded an organization called Voices by Choices in her son’s honor, to help other families who have lost children to gun violence.