Mayor Domenic J. Sarno and the Citywide Violence Prevention Task Force presented a workshop to raise awareness and to help youth serving organizations, parents, and community stakeholders to learn how to identify signs of human trafficking, potential gang activity, current drug trends, and strategies to decrease youth involvement with gangs, drugs and human trafficking.
Mayor Sarno said “I’m proud of our Task Force members continued and dedicated efforts to promote education, awareness, community involvement and partnership on what to do and where to go to help our young people & families in need of a better and positive direction. Knowledge and prevention is the key.”
The Mayor’s Violence Prevention Task Force is a collective of over 60 organizations who collaborate to analyze social trends and work determinedly to develop prevention strategies, interventions, and solutions to reduce violence. The group also works diligently to promote public safety by incorporating proven and innovative practices of community partnerships to affect positively the youth, families, residents, and community members of the city of Springfield.
Darryl E. Moss, the Mayor’s liaison to the Task Force said “The harsh reality is that no community is immune to gang violence, human trafficking, and drugs. The intention of this workshop is to help our community partners gather important information which will allow us to effectively plan our work and coordinate city wide strategies as we move forward. This opportunity not only puts concerned groups on the same page, but in the same sentence.” In the near future, the Task Force will publish a listing of all of our future trainings and workshop.
