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Former Long Beach Councilman Steve Neal said the goal was to create a team of city government officials, nonprofits, religious groups, mental health professionals and former gang members to share how to prevent violence from continuing to spread across the streets.
“We’d like to build a network here to connect the dots to address social ills, particularly gun violence,” he said.
Overall, 381 shootings took place across the city in 2020. The previous four years had an annual average of 232 shootings.
The townhall, called LBC Peace Makers, was co-hosted by local activist and entrepreneur Shirin Senegal, founder of the nonprofit Ronnie’s House.