Dear Lenny7,

Please join us on Thursday, September 25, Minnesota's Day of Remembrance for Victims of Homicide. CSM is joining with other groups from the community to hold a press conference and rally at the Capitol rotunda at 11:00 a.m.


Community leaders and mothers of victims will speak to the need for:
• Justice for victims and their families - including advocacy and mental health services


• Breaking the cycle of violence in the community - including restorative justice programs, reentry programs for offenders, and keeping illegal guns off the streets by putting a stop to gun trafficking and requiring background checks for gun sales


• Community involvement to prevent violence - including programs for youth and parents


Speakers include: Michael Campion (Commissioner of MN Dept of Public Safety), Scott Dibble (MN State Senator), Mike Freeman (Hennepin County Attorney), Jim Backstrom (Dakota County Attorney), Pamela Alexander (President, Council on Crime and Justice), Lt. Larry Doyle, (Minneapolis Police Dept), Sgt. Tom Bergren (St. Paul Police Dept), Shane Price (Northpoint Health and Wellness Center, African American Men Project), V.J. Smith (MADDADS) and mothers who lost sons to homicide: Mary Johnson, Maggie Doran and Sharon Brown. Kenny Scales, a Vista Volunteer from the Peace Foundation, will moderate the event.


Following the press conference, there will be a singer, dancer and some poets. [I bet that will be good]

All are welcome to attend. Those who have lost loved ones to homicide are encouraged to bring memorabilia, signs and photos.

Sue Fust

Executive Director, Citizens for a Safer Minnesota

Would this be a good opportunity to quiz Mr. Campion about his policies on reciprocity?

Statewide Alliance of Organizations Hold 'Day of Remembrance for Victims of Homicide'

Thu Sep 25, 1:30 PM ET

To: STATE EDITORS

Contact: Leah Sweet of the Minnesota Alliance on Crime, +1-612-940-8090, leah@mnallianceoncrime.org, or Sue Fust of Citizens for a Safer Minnesota, +1-651-645-3271, csm@endgunviolence.com

ST. PAUL, Minn., Sept. 25 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Citizens for a Safer Minnesota and the Minnesota Alliance on Crime (MAC) today announced that several local and statewide organizations, as well as family and loved ones of homicide victims, gathered at the state capitol to remember those lost to murder.

The press conference and rally for the Day of Remembrance for Victims of Homicide was held on Thursday, September 25 in the rotunda of the State Capitol.

Families of victims and community leaders spoke about:

-- The need for justice for victims and their families -- Breaking the cycle of community violence -- Promoting community involvement to prevent murder and violence.

Speakers included Commissioner Michael Campion, Minnesota Department of Public Safety; Pamela Alexander, former Hennepin County Judge and current Executive Director of the Council on Crime and Justice; Senator Scott Dibble; Lt. Larry Doyle from the Minneapolis Police Department; Sgt. Tom Bergren, St. Paul Police Homicide; Jim Backstrom, Dakota County Attorney; Mike Freeman, Hennepin County Attorney; Shane Price, Director Northpoint Health and Wellness African American Men Project; V.J. Smith, MADDADS and mothers of sons lost to murder: Sharon Brown, Maggie Doran and Mary Johnson.

Kenneth Scales, Vista volunteer for the Peace Foundation, moderated the event. "I represent those of us who are most at risk for getting shot. I am young, black and male."

Immediately following the press conference, a rally was held on the capitol steps with poetry, music and dance calling for justice and prevention for homicide in Minnesota.

A forum on gun violence called, "Don't Shoot: I Want to Live" is planned for 6:00pm at the Peace Foundation 1119 West Broadway Avenue, Minneapolis, MN 55411. Other groups around the state held vigils and other events, including a candlelight vigil on the evening of September 24 at Broadway School in Minneapolis and a bell-ringing on September 25 held by the Northland Million Mom Chapter in Duluth.

"We hope that the Day of Remembrance will not only pay tribute to victims of homicide, but will also help educate the community on preventing senseless deaths," said MAC Executive Director Leah Sweet. "This is a growing problem in Minnesota that needs to be solved." Sweet added that there were 111 homicides reported in Minnesota in 2007. "Gun violence is rampant in some communities," said Citizens for a Safer Minnesota Executive Director Sue Fust. "Little girls and babies are being shot by stray bullets."

Organizations co-sponsoring the Day of Remembrance include: The Ben Doran Foundation; Citizens for a Safer Minnesota; Council on Crime and Justice; From Death to Life: Two Mothers; MADDADS; Minnesota Alliance on Crime; Minnesota Parents Protecting Children; Northpoint Health and Wellness Center, African American Men Project; Parents of Murdered Children, Minnesota Hope Chapter; Peace Foundation; and Twin Cities Anti-Violence Coalition.

The annual Day of Remembrance is recognized nationally and marks the anniversary of the murder of Lisa Hollinger, daughter of a founding member of Parents of Murdered Children.

The Minnesota Alliance on Crime is a statewide alliance for crime victim programs and promotes the advancement of services in Minnesota through education, resources, and legislation.

SOURCE Citizens for a Safer Minnesota

About Don’t Shoot Minneapolis

We know that the issue of urban violence is complex. For sustained change to occur, it will take a broad, multi-layered approach that uses innovative strategies to impact public policy, increase resources, influence media, and, ultimately, change individual behavior.

Understanding these complex and dire circumstances impacting parts of the city, the Minneapolis City Council recently passed a resolution as a local call to action on the issue and it states: Homicides are the leading cause of death for Minneapolis residents between 15 and 24 years. The 65 deaths by homicide among persons in this age group between 2002 and 2004 were more than 4 times higher than motor vehicle deaths (at 15) and accidental deaths (at 14).

And looking at it from one Northside neighborhood’s perspective, the statistics get more compelling. Between August 5th & 11th (one week’s time) in the Northside’s 4th precinct, we saw: 3 homicides—8 people shot—56 reported shots fired.

How can we, as community members, take responsibility for building partnerships and creating the change we so desperately need? Working in sync with the City of Minneapolis’s Youth Violence Prevention Blueprint, a group of committed partners are suggesting a set of coordinated, innovative strategies that can lead to changes in individual behaviors. This kind of community re-education is the bedrock of a successful public health campaign.

Example of public health strategies will include:

NorthPoint Health & Wellness Center Behavioral Health Clinic will intensify its response to families in the North and Near North areas who have been traumatically impacted by gun violence by providing a free initial screening (with transportation).

We will engage all public health departments which have, or should have, the crisis in the North Minneap- olis community in their operational purview to connect them to impacted families.

As part of this coordinated effort, a neighbor-to- neighbor campaign will be implemented to create and sustain a community norm that will not allow violence to thrive. The “Don’t Shoot… I Want to Live” community campaign will be launched initially in North Minneapolis where violence has been the greatest and will draw from proven corporate marketing principles of new habit formation. Our strategy here is to utilize habit formation techniques to create new ways of thinking and generate different outcomes for communities that have been experiencing traumatic loss due to gun violence.
The following components will be included in the campaign:

Neighbor to neighbor marketing
Utilizing the faces and voices of neighbors on the Northside – from young children to our elders – we will create a series of marketing tools including buttons, billboards, bus benches/shelters, posters, lawn signs, door-to-door flyers, and bumper stickers. These materials, depicted in mock-up form here, will include the faces of actual people living on the Northside who want to stand up for the life of our community.

The goal of the marketing will be to saturate the visibility of these tools in a geographically defined area on the Northside where the violence is worst, to have the greatest impact on behavior. In this area, during the height of the campaign, you will see faces of the neighbor down your block, children at a bus stop, youth on the street corner, business owners in the community, people at their place of worship… all saying with one voice, “Don’t Shoot… I Want to Live!”

Radio and cable initiatives
The same people depicted on the print materials will also be given voice through, yet to be determined, radio and cable presence. Utilizing the local media outlets, the personal stories of loss from violence as well as vision for a transformed community will be portrayed.

Youth to Youth – School-based interventions
The campaign will be taken directly to youth in the community through schools. Classroom presenta- tions, printed materials, and a youth-focused video will be brought to Northside schools. The primary vehicle for these messages will be youth themselves. Through Northside Youth StandUp! and Girls in Action, two initiatives on the Northside developing leadership among youth, youth will lead the way in encouraging their peers to say “no” to violence and “yes” to opportunities for a positive future.

To participate in this campaign as a Northside voice, or support this effort as an ally partner, please contact the African American Men Project at 612-302-4694 or the PEACE Foundation at 612-521-4405.

A growing list of community partners involved in the “Don’t Shoot… I Want to Live” forum include: NorthPoint Health & Wellness Center, PEACE Foundation, African American Men Project, Power of People Institute, Girls in Action, Citizens for a Safer Minnesota, Mad Dads, Initiative for Violence Free Families, and Minneapolis Television Network.

We know that the issue of urban violence is complex. For sustained change to occur, it will take a broad, multi-layered approach that uses innovative strategies to impact public policy, increase resources, influence media, etc. etc.

A growing list of community partners involved in the “Don’t Shoot… I Want to Live” forum include: NorthPoint Health & Wellness Center, PEACE Foundation, African American Men Project, Power of People Institute, Girls in Action, Citizens for a Safer Minnesota, Mad Dads, Initiative for Violence Free Families, and Minneapolis Television Network.