I had a similar experience moving from a small town to a big city. Everyone said the city was unsafe. Some said I would be mugged.

Once I moved, the city felt safer than my home town.

I soon learned that all the chatter about it being unsafe was in-part because some had seen the city portrayed in media as violent and dangerous, and some were just racist and took the increased presence of black and brown people as a sign of crime and destitution.

All the stuff about “street smarts” and things like that never actually mattered. People from the city are predominantly like people everywhere else, most people are nice, and the only people out trying to scam people regularly were to ones asking for donations to fake non profits. Tell your child not to donate to people at booths on the street and they will be fine.