GREENSBORO, N.C. — This past June, the City of Greensboro’s Office of Community Safety rolled out a new Violence Prevention Program called “Peace on Purpose”.
The only way to try and remedy something is to get out in front of it and try to find what it is that ails an individual, right? So now we are talking about spreading peace, right? That could be the cure," said Violence Prevention Coordinator, Arthur Durham.
Now, the office is currently introducing its first actionable step.
“The pledge is a way to introduce our program and what it is that we do within the violence prevention network, out of the office of community safety. We talk about the different components of violence intervention, violence reduction models, mentoring, alternative resolution, services, things of that nature," Durham said.
Released in early July, the GSO Peace on Purpose Pledge is a document with six individual pledges of non-violence such as “Settle my disputes in a nonviolent way whenever possible” and “Take action to end all forms of violence with love, compassion, and without judgment.”
“We have the goal of 10,000, but we just have the goal of wanting to spread it period as a movement! No matter how many numbers we get, we have a target, but we want the movement to be impressed upon every individual here in Greensboro," said Durham.
Durham knows that, on its own, the pledge is not going to provide a quick fix.
“The pledge is not a solution, it’s a declaration, it’s a movement, a mentality that we are trying to spread," said Durham.
Instead, it’s to inform the community of what they can expect from the department going into perpetuity.
“The office of community safety right now, we are developing our peace on purpose plan as you know, but we are also about to partner with other nonprofits throughout the city who want to do violence, interruption, and outreach work through the component that we are adding through the city," Durham added.