Register at tinyurl.com/ewml-in-this-together
We Are In This Together: Understanding Gun Violence in our Sister Communities is presented by the Western Mass group of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America.
This program will look at gun violence by the numbers in the United States and specifically Holyoke and Springfield as well as recent actions in these communities. The panelists will discuss the root causes, ongoing effects of gun violence and legislation currently before the Commonwealth and the federal government. Each panelist will describe 2-3 actions that those in the audience can take to participate in important change.
The presentation and discussion will be moderated by Natasha Mitchell and will include three participants from other organizations who are members of the Nonviolent Springfield Coalition which meets twice a month. Natasha has been an activist and community leader throughout Western Massachusetts for the past twenty-six years. She is the Founder and CEO of Potter’s Wheel Community Services, an organization intent on aggressively delving into cultural diversity, impacts of trauma, restorative circles, marriage and family Therapy, and gang/gun violence prevention. Robin Neipp, the Local Lead for Moms, will begin the program by presenting the statistics of state and local gun violence. The other panelists are:
- Ron Mitchell, a Community Organizer for ROCA Springfield who works with young men who have experienced trauma, teaching them to break the patterns of violence, incarceration and poverty.
- Reverend Lauren Holm is the Pastor of Bethesda Lutheran Church in Springfield and the chair/moderator of Springfield Campaign Nonviolence and Springfield Nonviolence Coaltion.
- Juanita Batchelor is an activist and the founder and Director of the Darrell Lee Jenkins, Jr. Families of Homicide Resource Center in Springfield.
- Ruth Zakarin is the Executive Director of the Massachusetts Coaltion to Prevent Gun Violence.
This program is supported in part by a grant from the Easthampton Cultural Council, a local agency which is supported by the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency.