Your turn: Explore cost of gun violence on community at upcoming forum

Jo Minor
·3 min read
3

It is no secret that gun violence in our community, our state and our country has reached epidemic proportions. What are the costs of this epidemic? What is the human cost?

The National Gun Violence Archives lists gun violence as the leading cause of death among children from 0 to 19 years of age. That is astonishing. But, what is the cost not only in lives lost but for survivors and family members? What kind of mental trauma are survivors and family members experiencing? What about the mental trauma of the community at large, especially among our children who have to practice what to do to stay alive in a school shooting?

The League of Women Voters of Greater Rockford (LWVGR) has sponsored a series of community forums to address these questions. All forums are free and open to the public, and all are invited to join in this important community conversation.

Your turn: Dialogue can be a vehicle for change when it comes to gun violence

Our first forum included law enforcement and legislative leaders. We heard from the mayor about the programs his office was implementing to help children of trauma and reach them before they become influenced by gangs. Jennifer Cacciapaglia, manager of the Mayor's Office of Domestic Violence and Human Trafficking Prevention for the City of Rockford, reminded us that the vast majority of those who turn to violence are products of violence in their homes and neighborhoods.

We heard from the Rockford Police Chief Carla Redd about the programs the police department is implementing to engage troubled youth. State Rep. Maurice West talked about the efforts from the legislative arena.

Winnebago County Board Chairman Joe Chiarelli discussed the county's efforts and areas where the city and county work together to implement programs to help youth. Winnebago County State's Attorney J. Hanley discussed how prosecutors are handling gun prosecutions.

Our second forum featured Rockford Public Schools Superintendent Ehren Jarrett discussing programs the school district is implementing to help troubled youth. One such program is Handle with Care, where with help from the police department teachers are made aware of students in their classroom who may have been subject to family violence or trauma. They are also implementing some additional summer programs for students and an extended day to help students. These programs will need teacher and parent buy-in.

Tony Turner from Conscious Coaching discussed the problems he sees youth struggling with on a daily basis and the need for community intervention to help our children. His group meets with youth at Auburn High School on a regular basis.

We will be holding our third forum in this series will be from 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday, June 14 at Second/First Church, 318 N. Church St., in Rockford. This forum will examine the human cost of gun violence in our community.

Our panelists will include:

  • Emergency department physician Dr. Ammar Ahmed will speak about the violence gunshots wreck on the body and being a front line worker trying to help victims and family members.

  • Police Chief Carla Redd will discuss police department efforts to increase recruitment and training for police including a focus on de escalation techniques. She will also talk about how she deals with victims and their families after they have encountered the traumatic effect of gun violence..

  • A clinical psychologist, who works with NAMI, will address the mental health issues victims and family members deal with on a daily basis. In addition, they will speak to the mental health issues the community encounters because of this culture of violence and how our children are effected.

  • Joshua Patterson from Comprehensive Community Solutions will explain his group's focus and the concrete steps we can take as a community to help stem this tide of gun violence.

We usually see a spike in gun crimes during the summer. We have to come together to help our leaders. We must make an impact and reduce this violence.

Together we can and will do this. The time to act is now.

Jo Minor is the chair of the Gun Violence Prevention Committee of the League of Women Voters of Greater Rockford.

This article originally appeared on Rockford Register Star: Your turn: Explore cost of gun violence on community at upcoming forum