I can go into great lengths about the fact that it's four hundred million guns in America and only three hundred million, three hundred and thirty million people, about the fact that forty thousand guns are produced every day, fourteen million guns are produced every year.

So the concept of just getting the guns off the street sounds good and I'm all for it, but I know we need other measures, other factors to come into play to disrupt and interrupt the drivers of violence in the city of Albany.

I was at a revitalization meeting last week and they were talking about how the population is decreasing.

And I believe this plan will have a positive bearing on the population decreasing because safe people feel feel more like they want to stay in that particular place.

Do open up the door to negative situations and negative interactions taking place.

Environmental and social factors that converge to create dangerous conditions.

And I used this quote here that says, Rain does not fall on one roof alone.

For us to recognize that even within this room, we have a responsibility to make the best decisions we can as a political body, but as individuals.

If you see a young person, you just saying hi to them, how you doing, could start a conversation that you may possibly be able to save their life.

I told the council people before I came in here, uh, one of my neighbors committed suicide recently, and their mother was interested in me working with them.

And by the time I found it out, it was too late.

And that's what I refuse to allow to happen in the city of Albany.

I know kids on the uptown side and the downtown side, and they in the streets.

And my worst fear is that a kid that I know will kill another kid that I know.

So this framework should hope to change that.

Climate and crime are intimately entwined.

And especially in the city.

Cities can be up to 15 to 20 degrees hotter than their rural counterparts.

And I don't know if we take this into consideration.

The scientific connection between aggression and heat.

I've seen studies where officers pulled their guns at roughly a 50 to 60% rate when it was 70 degrees, but pulled it at a 70 to 80% rate when it was 81 degrees.

So we would be fooling ourselves not to think that that has a bearing on some of the activities that's happening during the summer, especially in those areas that are urban, urban heat, urban heat islands.

The human toe, violence beyond the streets.

Well, we recognize it's not just gun violence, it's domestic violence, it's community violence, it's elder abuse.

I was actually at a meeting with some representatives from AARP last week to begin to introduce some concepts of how can we make them more aware of what domestic abuse is, how to let them know when they're being taken advantage of in a negative way.

Because that also is another form of violence that we need to address.

There's no form of violence that's acceptable in my book.

The human toll also falls into areas of alcohol inducing situations and drug-inducing situations.

And then you mix the heat, and then you wonder why you have some of the situations we have going on, and then you remove or you don't have the mental health resources, or a lot of times, not that they don't exist, but we may not know where the bridge is that'll bring us to those resources.

And I'll get to that a little bit later as well.

Our mission, the role of the violence prevention task force is to develop a comprehensive equity-rooted strategy.

Thank you to Dorsey Aplist for introducing that concept of equity, because you know, equality is great when you're dealing with maybe apples, right?

But when you're dealing with people, equity is the key.

We'll go into that on the next slide as well.

Engaging communities through forums, workshops, and events.

I'm a firm believer that the people closest to the problem are closest to the solution.

So I make it my business to engage the community members.

I make it my business to let them know that their voice is a valued and what they have to say.

That's the way I will, that's the way the plan should be laid out.

Them, the youth, the people who are most impacted should have a big voice in where these ideas will go.

That's why we, to our best ability, we try to utilize participatory budgeting, because we recognize that imposed budgeting is not recognizing the power of the people.

So with the little time we had, we did that to the best of our ability.

To collaborate with local organizations to amplify impact, which I do every day.

I meet up organizations, whether it's Ford Family, whether it's All Streets Global, Annette Brown, Boys and Girls Club, bridging the gap.

I could go on and on and on with the organizations that I interact with while I'm working and on my off hours.

Twice a month I feed people at the mission on Sundays.

So it's it's all about being closer to the problem so you can be closer to the solution.

And lastly, in terms of our mission, a focus on listening and not lecturing, I think is a lesson for all adults that think they got these kids figured out.

Or the reverse, think that these kids just is no way to figure them out.

I think we gotta recognize focusing on listening and not lecturing is what opens the doors to those kind of conversations that can create more insights.

Community engagement, that's what it's all about with me.

So about making sure that those who are most affected can be closest and more involved with the remedies that can be applied.

And that means meeting people where they at, holding community meetings and forums, transparent communication with no false promises.

They get too many promises from the city, too many promises from organizations, too many promises from preachers.

When in reality, it's not about making promises to a person, it's about giving them a choice and a chance.

And from there, great things can happen.

It's about creating safe spaces for honest dialogue and providing refreshments and structure and clear expectations.

I think it's important when we get together with the community that it's done in this in just that way.

It's a community gathering.

It's an opportunity for people to get together to express themselves, to be themselves.