South Bend community groups discuss crime prevention

The city of South Bend is looking for resolve In tonight’s community conversation on crime prevention.

Members of the common council heard from different local groups on how they could team up with the city to put an end to violence.

Council member Preston believes this kind of teamwork will help curb crime.

“How can we align the resources, how can we improve the work that we’re doing by working together?” said Preston.

She wanted to bring very different voices into this conversation.

“One of the biggest keys is communication and relationships and we need to get together and talk about it,” said Anne Coglianese, a guidance director at Rise Up Academy. “I’m glad that the council is finally recognizing that restorative justice as a real practice and as a solution to things.”

An army of community activists backed the common council in a fight for their neighborhoods.

They’re tired violence rocking their blocks and they say it will truly take a village for a change to come.

“We all need to come to the table with each other and explaining our own organizations so we can all come together and work,” said Blu Casey, member of the Nu Black Power Movement.

 Casey got to work on the issue earlier this week.

He and his organization are hosting “Peace Week: programming this week as a stance against gun violence and gang culture.

“They can come together and speak out about what’s going on in their communities and we help get them involved in the community and train them to be leaders,” said Casey.

It’s a preventative approach to solving the problem.

“There’s a focus on resolving the problems, being able to connect and communicate so you don’t get to a place of violence or hopefully not any loss of life,” said Preston.

Peace Week continues through the weekend.

The Nu Black Power Movement has events planned for just about everyday.