Following a string of shootings in South Bend’s Near Northwest Neighborhood last month, residents are seeking solutions.
The neighborhood organization held a public safety panel Nov. 4 with representatives from the city and the South Bend Police Department.
Neighborhood Director Kathy Schuth said the meeting was meant to foster community in the wake of a violent month.
“Most often, when violence happens in the community, you’re dealing with it in isolation, right?” Schuth said. “You’re at home, you don’t know what happened. And it’s rare, actually, to have a calm conversation – an opportunity to speak with the police, to speak with your public officials and say, ‘This happened, this is how I feel.’”
Residents spoke about the need for better lighting, more opportunities for young people and more economic investment on the city’s West Side.
But mostly, they emphasized the need for better communication – not only between the community and the police, but also between neighbors.
Lyn Kelsey has lived in the Near Northwest Neighborhood for seven years. During that time, she said she’s witnessed several instances of gun violence in her area, and heard of several community initiatives working to end that violence.
Kelsey said she’d like to see a group form to help those initiatives connect and work together.
“What I always hear is that communication is the biggest problem that we have,” she said. “I really would love to see a grassroots community liaison board formed whose sole purpose is really to bring together all of these things.”
Kelsey said that group of community liaisons – people who could go between the police, the city and neighborhood residents – could help solve some of the issues that lead to community violence.
“They just need somebody to come up and say, ‘Hey, you have value. You’re worth something,’” Kelsey said. “And to just talk about the inherent human value of the people in our community – the people who are poor, the people who are rich, and everyone in between.”
Contact Gemma atgdicarlo@wvpe.orgor follow her on Twitter at@gemma_dicarlo.
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