2 February 2023
GREENSBORO, N.C. (WGHP) — The Office of Community Safety made its public debut outside the Southside Johnny’s nightclub Wednesday afternoon where 36-year-old Cedric Monroe was shot and killed over the weekend.
“We’re stepping out front. Office of Community Safety. Violence prevention coordinator. The network. We’re bringing in all these people who may have been apprehensive,” said Arthur Durham, violence prevention coordinator for the Greensboro Office of Community Safety.
Durham said the program is just beginning, but they have a lot of work to do to make sure people stop using guns to kill each other.
The safety unit program works in partnership with Cities United to take a concept of communal support to non-profits. The program will offer support and funding to enhance the capabilities to add violence intervention and violence reduction courses into their organizations.
“What you see happening right now in Greensboro is…our Black youth is being terrorized by violence. We’re already dealing with a lot of different struggles already that are going on continuously in our community. So when you see kids 15, 8, just young children that have nothing to do with the violence that’s occurring, it’s sad,” said Anthony Morgan, violence prevention coordinator for the Greensboro Office of Community Safety.
Morgan said the plan will be to put people in the neighborhoods where gun violence happens, talk to them, work with them and allow them to understand the alternatives to gun violence and killing.
“Programs like this ensure that our kids feel safe when they go to sleep at night, they feel safe when they go to school, they feel safe when they’re out and about…right now, all over Greensboro, all over the Triad, there is no sense of peace right now,” Morgan said.
Morgan said the program is still in the early stages, and change won’t happen overnight. They want the public to know their mission to make a safer Greensboro for everyone.
“It’s going to take time. So I would say for our citizens not to get ahead of themselves with something that’s taken years to come into play. Expect for us to hit the ground first,” Morgan said.