City Commission leads area’s first Gun Violence Prevention Summit

Published on August 07, 2023

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (Aug. 7, 2023) – The Gainesville City Commission is taking a multi-phased approach to confront the community’s rising tide of gun violence. With nine firearm homicides in the city since July 1, 2022, commissioners led a two-day Gun Violence Prevention Summit. Titled, “Choose Peace: Gun Violence Must Cease,” the event drew an estimated 400 people to the Hilton UF Conference Center on August 6 and 7.

The summit was supported by the full city commission, but arose from the staunch advocacy of Mayor Harvey L. Ward Jr. and District I Commissioner (Mayor Pro Tem) Desmon Duncan-Walker, who together anchored the two-day event.

Attendees worked to move the needle in the right direction and create a lasting collaborative to bring permanent and positive change. It comes after the Gainesville City Commission and the Alachua County Board of County Commissioners each passed resolutions declaring gun violence as a public health crisis in the community. “We’ve all got to be in the trenches doing the work,” said Mayor Ward. “We have a part to play in this. It’s not just our public safety professionals. We all need to build that framework, build networks that rely on each other, and we’re here to do that.”

Each day centered on a different approach. “Community Day” included workshops on violence intervention, social media and mental health, and youth and hip hop culture. The day’s culminating event, a youth town hall sponsored by the Children’s Trust of Alachua County, focused on the role of drill music, a popular rap genre, and provided attendees an opportunity to share their stories.

“This music gives young people a chance to feel expressed, accepted, a part of things. But that’s not always good. There’s peer pressure that comes with it, too,” said Jacoby Jenkins, one of the youth panelists.

Commissioner Duncan-Walker, who moderated the town hall, developed it with the intent of hearing directly from the summit’s young attendees. “Centering youth voices is critical, because I believe the children will bring us solutions. They are indeed the future, and my goal is to help them express themselves here so we can listen and learn.”

“Policy Day” discussions on governance and practices included elected officials, educators and school administrators, business and civic leaders, and representatives from public health, local government, public safety and the judicial system.

Ariel Cathcart, manager of Mayoral Outreach from the nation’s largest gun violence prevention organization, Everytown for Gun Safety, delivered the keynote address.

Policy Day also featured an innovative approach to policymaking led by Gainesville Community Health Director Brandy Stone, MPH, CPH. Repurposing the traditional tabletop exercise — a foundational element of public safety preparedness — she guided participants through a series of increasingly complex health and social challenges similar to those that can underlie gun violence in a community.

“The analogy I like to use is pulling people from a river. You can stay downstream and save them one at a time as they struggle past, and that will work for a while. But eventually you learn, and you go to where the river starts and change all your efforts so you can prevent them from falling into the water in the first place,” explained Stone.

Policy Day concluded with a discussion of next steps. Mayor Ward, along with Bishop Christopher Stokes of Micanopy’s Willie Mae Stokes Community Center, and Jeffrey Weisberg of the River Phoenix Center for Peacebuilding, led the conversation, “What is mine to do?” Those present agreed to continue the dialogue while developing action items in the realms of public safety, support services, and policymaking. City and County leaders expect to address the issue further in future joint meetings.

Funding support for the summit came from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), the Children’s Trust of Alachua County, Alachua County Public Schools, Alachua County Sheriff’s Office and Coca Cola Florida. More information and resources are available on the 2023 Summit page.

For more information, contact City of Gainesville Public Information Officer Rossana Passaniti at 352-318-9599 or PassanitiR1@GainesvilleFL.gov.