Danville forum addresses community safety

More than 100 people gathered in the Danville Room at the Danville Public Schools building Monday night to discuss ways to make Danville a safer community.

Dubbed a “community input forum” by Danville Public Schools, the meeting was designed not to come up with instant solutions to the area’s problems, but to determine exactly what the issues are and find out what organizations there are in place to help.

George Wilson, chairman of the Danville School Board, greeted the guests and told the group the goal of the evening was not to take action, but to get community input on what has caused the increase in violence. He said the discussions that will follow the forum will bring the organizations involved closer to a plan for solutions.

“We are very concerned about the violence in our community,” Danville City Councilman Larry Campbell said, calling on all in attendance to “see what we can do to make a difference.”

Campbell read letters from inmates at Green Rock Prison, who described feelings of frustration that lead them to violence initially, their remorse for what they did and their hopes for being able to help find ways to prevent youths from making the same mistakes they made.

“If you don’t act now, the worst our (prison) walls will continue to swell,” an inmate referred to as “BG” wrote.

Campbell also noted that the rising violence in Danville will be a deterrent to economic development efforts to attract new businesses and jobs to the community.

Don Nodtvedt, executive director of the Boys and Girls Clubs of the Danville Area, put on a presentation designed to begin the process of changing the level of violence in the community by identifying what the issues are, and which organizations can help come up with solutions.

Nodtvedt said the best way to evoke change is to have a carefully thought out plan, and showed steps for coming up with a successful plan. He asked the group to come up with reasons people might want to change, and answers ranged from having a desire to improve their lives to knowing what they are doing is not working.

Mayor Sherman Saunders pointed out that change is necessary for improvement, saying, “If you always do what you’ve always done, you always get what you always got.”

Leadership, improved economic conditions, letting go of the past, commitment and understanding were some of the qualities the group said were necessary for change to happen, while apathy, tradition, fear, lack of money and peer pressure were mentioned as things that prevents change.

“Change occurs only when the pain of staying the same exceeds the pain of change,” Nodtvedt said.

Issues with safety in the community cross all age groups, but most of the safety issues identified by the group were geared toward youth.

In a very short amount of time, a long list of problems that can lead to violence was drawn up, including lack of parenting and adult mentors, easy available of guns, lack of employment opportunities, poverty, lack of job skills/education, boredom and lack of entertainment options, lack of effective discipline and the attraction of gang membership.

Nodtvedt then asked the attendees to identify which organizations they represented and to give a brief description of what they do, and more than 15 representatives from different organizations that spanned educational, charitable, law enforcement, sports, religious, social services and youth programs talked about what they did to try and stem the tide of violence in the community.

Campbell told the group that the next step will be the development of a steering committee to analyze the information gathered at the meeting, and asked for people to sign up. Once that information is formulated into a report that describes what the next level should include, action can begin to be taken.

“We love our city, love our young people and will take it to the next level,” Campbell said.

Wilson closed the meeting by saying it could take three months to come up with an action plan, but that working together will make solutions possible.

“We’re here for the children” Wilson said. “If we pool our resources, Danville will be a much better place.”