Many Danville residents hope a community meeting held Thursday at the Laura Lee Fellowship House will help reduce violence among young people. Bill Pickett has the story…
Chris Hightower served as the moderator for the event that was hosted by Project Success and Violence Prevention Coalition of Vermilion County. Hightower says there is still work to be done….
{AUDIO: “It’s going to take us as a community reaching out and building a bridge of communication to work with those kids, and to show them that there’s more to life. Sadly, a lot of them don’t have a love for life because they don’t have anyone motivating them to love life. And without that, we’re lost.”}
(Photo shows crowd at Thursday’s Community meeting at Laura Lee.)
Hightower noted there are several groups already trying to keep young lives on the right track…
{AUDIO: “There’s Project Success. There’s Young Men and Young Women Empowerment at Danville High School. There’s It Takes a Village mentoring group. And that’s just me naming some off the top of my head. We have Crosspoint offering all kinds of mental health services. You have got so many organizations here in this town, and in this moment all of these organizations are together in one place. So, what we need the community to do, is to start to recognize and pour into these organizations, because they’re already doing the work.”}
Hightower (shown at top of this story) is a North Ridge Middle School Home Program Interventionist.
“We have people in this room who are doing the work,” added Pastor Stan Hoskins. “Connect with them.”
Ed Butler, a Danville alderman and founding member of the Three Kings of Peace, thinks efforts to curb violence need to start early. “We need to start at the elementary schools,’’ said Butler.
