City of Wilmington hosts meetup to discuss community violence prevention

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — Preventing community violence was the focus of a community meet-up meeting hosted by the City of Wilmington.

The city hosted the meeting at the Davis Center at Maides Park. A number of groups and the public were invited, including Port City United as the guest speaker.
The discussion centered around ways to reduce violence and how to prevent firearm misuse that often leads to injury and death. The groups also talked about how public funding and grants could be used to support programs that aim to reduce violence.

Jarret Gattison with Port City United said that groups working together is key to tackling the issue.

“I think a lot of collaboration is going to happen in the near future, um a couple conversations with Sokoto House. Hopefully, coming together to meet, iron out some wrinkles and be able to you know, be able to push the community forward more,” said Gattison.

According to a study from the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, 5 people in our state die daily from firearm-related incidents. You can view that full report here.