Champaign City Council issued the following announcement on June 26.
As part of its continued focus on strategies to reduce gun violence in Champaign-Urbana, the Champaign Community Coalition is hosting a Special Community Meeting on Thursday, June 28, 2018. The meeting will be held at the Douglass Branch Library (504 East Grove Street, Champaign) from 6:00-8:00 pm. The Community Coalition invites everyone in our community to attend this important meeting.
The purpose of the meeting is to identify solutions to further combat community gun violence. Year to date, there have been more than 50 shooting incidents in Champaign-Urbana, compared to 35 at this time last year. The Community Coalition first identified combating gun violence as a priority in 2015 and developed the CU Fresh Start focused deterrence initiative as a new, innovative approach to address gun violence. The approach is organized around building partnerships and improving the collaboration between the community, law enforcement, and social service providers.
“Our message has been clear and direct from the beginning, the gun violence must stop now,” said Tracy Parsons, Community Coalition’s facilitator. “We have learned a lot during the process of implementing CU Fresh Start as a new, innovative approach to addressing gun violence, and we believe that we have built a solid foundation to address the gun violence crisis in a collaborative and comprehensive manner. But we need assistance from the entire community in order to be successful.”
This meeting will provide participants with a brainstorming opportunity to better engage with community members and further enhance collaboration between various groups. Parsons adds, “The recent rash of shooting incidents are very alarming and unacceptable. It is critical, that we have ongoing discussions to seek solutions to this crisis. We need everyone to join in partnership to help create a safer community.“
To learn more about the Community Coalition and how to get involved, visit ChampaignCommunityCoalition.org or follow @walkasone on Facebook.
Original source can be found here.
Alerts Sign-up