Good morning, my name is Elliot Payne.

I'm the president of Minneapolis City Council.

Before we convene our meeting, we have the presentation of honorary resolutions.

I'll invite Councilmember Chowdhury to give the first presentation recognizing gun violence awareness.

And I believe we have some guests joining us, so we'll wait for them to be brought into the room.

Thank you.

Welcome, welcome.

Come on up.

Come morning, Director.

Let me get close to y'all.

We can have some of you all right over here by Councilmember Palmasano and Whiting.

Come over here.

Yeah, don't be shy.

Come on down here, everybody.

Yeah, yeah, please.

Come on.

Got a little bit more space down here.

We can do some rows.

Good morning.

All right.

This is recognizing June 2026 as Gun Violence Awareness Month in Minneapolis.

Whereas National Violence Awareness Day originated in June 2015 to commemorate the life of 15-year-old Hadea Pendleton who was shot and killed on a Chicago playground, and nearly 130 people shot and killed every day in the United States.

Whereas in 2024, 44,447 people died from gun-related injuries, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

And whereas over 3,000 shooting deaths have occurred in the United States between January and March 2026.

And whereas in Minneapolis, from January through May 2026, 22 homicides have occurred in 88 people sustain gunshot wounds.

And whereas gun violence homicide is a local and national public health concern that disproportionately affects teens and young men ages 15 to 35 and individuals who identify as black American Indian and Latino, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

Whereas, in the last year, Minneapolis and Minnesota have experienced gun violence due to interpersonal conflicts, crime, suicide, federal law enforcement, school shootings, mass shootings, and political violence.

And whereas gun violence leaves lasting impacts on survivors, families, neighborhoods, first responders, and communities who continue to carry the emotional, psychological, and economic consequence of violence, and whereas gun injuries and death are preventable, and whereas community organizations play a vital role in community violence intervention by providing services such as violence prevention, youth and group violence intervention, violence interruption, hospital-based violence intervention, community trauma response, and have demonstrated success in reducing violence and saving lives.

And whereas, the city of Minneapolis is committed to honoring survivors, those who have lost their lives to gun violence and their families by bringing an end to this preventable public health crisis through investment in awareness, education, training, violence prevention, and policy change.

Now, therefore, be it resolved that the mayor and city council do hereby honor the survivors and remember those whose lives have been lost to gun violence.

Recognize the ongoing work of community organizations to build safer communities and recognize June 2026 as gun violence awareness Month in the city of Minneapolis.

Well, thank you everyone so much for being here and being here to bring awareness about gun violence in our city, in our country.

I know that the city of Minneapolis in particular has faced a lot of heartbreak, especially with the shooting that took place that took two young lives at Annunciation School and Church.

The shooting that happened just a few days before at Cristo Rey Jesuit High School and several mass shootings that we've experienced in the community, whether it's on the north side or the south side, we've all been impacted, and I just want to give a big and deep thank you on behalf of the Minneapolis City Council for everyone's advocacy, everyone's hard work and your storytelling.

I know how difficult it can be to have to share your trauma and your harm and to do it in such a selfless way.

Because of you, we were able to pass sweeping gun violence prevention legislation at the Minnesota State Senate.

And that is something so proud, something to be so proud of.

Even if we didn't get at the House, we know.

We know which seats we need to flip, we know what work we need to do, and because of you and your advocacy here on the Minneapolis City Council, we had a unanimous vote and support from the mayor on local-level gun violence prevention laws that will go into effect once the state gives us the authority to do so, and that's something we should be proud of.

And with that, I'm gonna have Director Harrington of Neighborhood Safety Department open us up.

Hi everybody, I'm Amanda Harrington.

I'm the director for neighborhood safety.

Um, I just want to acknowledge the staff from neighborhood safety that are here today.

Many of them have personal reasons why they do this work, and all of us care deeply about protecting and supporting this community in whatever ways safety means to all of you.

In particular, we're prioritizing gun violence prevention, and I need to say we couldn't do this work without the community organizations that we partner with, and so there's a number of organizations present today, some of which we contract with, some of whom advocate for gun violence awareness or safety reduction in a number of different ways, and I think we should just take a moment to thank all of those organizations who show up and do this work every day.

Thank you.

We don't have a lot of time, but if any of the organizations feel called to speak about your work or the reasons that you do this work, we would love to hear from you.

I think we have Molly Chase from Moms Demand Action to kick us off.

Thank you.

The first time I set foot in City Hall was last August after the enunciation shooting, there was a press conference.

I showed up in my red shirt with a sign that read, my daughter starts kindergarten next year, and I'm scared, or sorry, next week, and I'm scared for her.

And then yesterday was a makeshift ceremony at her school with her and her classmates in their homemade shirts, putting on a parade for cheering parents, and all of us were marveling at how much had changed over the last 10 months, and I would argue that Minneapolis and Minnesota have also been through tremendous change in the last few months.

And I know that moms demand action protect Minnesota and volunteers across the state have been talking with their electeds.

We've been sharing data, sharing deeply personal stories, and a lot of those electeds would hear us, some of them would cry with us, but then they would get to the threshold of action and stop.

Which is why it is all the more meaningful that our city council has taken action, and we see that and we appreciate it, and we are so grateful.

And I just want to say uh a ceremony is more than a ceremony.

This means so much to us.

Thank you.

Is there anyone else from any of the organizations that would like to say a few words?

Want to give y'all the opportunity?