NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Community leaders in New Haven have a new effort planned to tackle violence within neighborhoods: the Stop the Violence Family Event, happening on Saturday.
“In our ward, we’ve been experiencing a spate of shootings,” Devin Avshalom-Smith, New Haven Alder of Ward 20. “Instead of perhaps rallying or marching, I want folks to get together and feel the love that we have between us.”
Avshalom-Smith is hosting the event alongside the Mt. Calvary Deliverance Tabernacle and Ice the Beef.
The event will feature free food, activities and a live DJ— all things to bring the community together.
“Back in my day when I was younger, we had something called a village, where you knew the next-door neighbor, the next-door neighbor knew your kids. You couldn’t disrespect the next-door neighbor, and we don’t have that anymore,” said Ice the Beef President Chaz Carmon.
“This event is just one of many efforts to start to bridge that divide,” Ice the Beef Youth President Manuel Camacho.
With a focus on families, organizers are hoping to deliver an important message to New Haven youth.
“Get them to understand they can make a decision to not pick a gun up. They can make a decision to go to class, they can make so many decisions that can change our world, but we also have to focus on the teenagers,” said Carmon.
The event will come after local religious leaders, police and neighbors joined together Monday for a lengthy meeting about criminal justice reform and community violence.
“That meeting was in my ward held by Reverend Dr. Boise-Kimber, and it’s all in one. We’ve invited the police to come as well because when we say community, we’re including our District 7 officers within that word community,” said Avshalom-Smith.
Saturday’s Stop the Violence Family Day will take place from 12 p.m.-5 p.m. at the Lincoln-Bassett Community School Field. Organizers plan to host more of these family events throughout the summer.
Angelo Bavaro is an anchor and reporter at FOX61 News. He can be reached at abavaro@fox61.com. Follow him on Facebook and Twitter.
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