Brooklyn Park Shares Anti-Violence Strategies
Mayor Jeff Lunde and Brooklyn Park staff attended an event to learn more about strategies other cities are taking to curb violence in high-risk groups. Brooklyn Center and Minneapolis also attended.
“Brooklyn Park feels like we’re the only ones who have this problem. And we don’t know what we should do,” says Mayor Lunde. “But when we come to these convenings, you get reinvigorated with the idea that there are many communities fighting the same fight.”
Cities United is a national movement focused on eliminating the violence in American cities related to African American men and boys. The mayors who participate intend to reduce homicides in their cities by 50 percent, by the year 2025. Mayor Lunde currently serves on the advisory board of the organization.
Mayors, staff, and youth met in Hampton, Virginia for their sixth meeting. One particularly poignant part of trip was when the group also visited the place where the first African-American slaves in North America landed 400 years ago.
To learn more about Cities United and the event, click here.
