URBANA – Three shootings happened in Danville this past weekend. Two teenagers were shot on Friday and Sunday. And on Saturday, 22-year-old Ricky Dandridge Jr. died after being shot in a grocery store parking lot.
Community members in the city are holding an emergency meeting on Thursday evening to create a space for people to share their feelings. Jamie Nightlinger is the Violence Prevention and Family Outreach coordinator for Danville 118 Schools and Project Success of Vermilion County. She told IPM’s Reginald Hardwick that Thursday’s gathering will allow people to vent as they process the violence.
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Emergency community meeting to address violence |
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Here’s a transcription of an interview between Jamie Nightlinger and Reginald Hardwick, IPM News and Public Affairs Director.
Jamie Nightlinger: It’s definitely been a heavy weekend. I’m definitely sad for the families that are affected, any bystanders that had to witness it, and also just for those young people that make these spur of the moment choices that affect the rest of their life.
IPM: Is your organization working with any of the families?
Jamie Nightlinger: You know when the victim’s family sometimes it’s hard to get in touch with people, but we do put out information to people that we know in hopes that they will contact us so that we can work with them. We do have resources available for families affected by violence.
IPM: Can you say more about that? What kind of resources?
Jamie Nightlinger: We do a lot of different things through project success. Project Success overall is an after-school program across Vermillion County that hosts after-school programs for kids through K through 12th grade. We also have a youth council that was formed last year after the passing of Aniyah Davis, and they have been working for the past year on best practices for gun violence prevention. We also have a family outreach program, specifically that connects families to resources. And we also have access to some hardship funding for the families that are directly affected by violence. And so, we just assess it on it, on a need, needs base, and who we can get in contact with and offer these resources to. And we also do a parent support group for people affected by violence on the second Wednesday of the month at the Danville Public Library from five to 6pm and mostly, I mean, we just want to support the families, stand with them, advocate for them, and offer them any resources or funding that we have access to.
IPM: What is happening on Thursday evening?
Jamie Nightlinger: So, Thursday evening, we’ve called an emergency community meeting, and this will be a space where people can come and they can talk, they can get their thoughts, their emotions out. And there will be counselors from Crosspoint [Human Services] there as well to provide support to anybody that needs it, as well as several other community resources. And honestly, it’ll just be a space for people to vent, to talk, to exchange ideas of what could help, and mostly to provide resources and support to anybody that has been affected by these tragedies.
IPM: And when and where is everything taking place?
Jamie Nightlinger: It will be at Laura Lee Fellowship at 212 East Williams in Danville, Illinois, at 6:30pm on Thursday, May 7.
IPM: Jamie, last question, you know, for if there’s somebody who’s listening to this, and maybe they’re like, ‘you know, I really can’t make a difference, or I can’t reach a kid.’ Why should we try?
Jamie Nightlinger: I mean, I feel like that inevitably violence is going to occur, and all we can hope to do is lessen it. And if that means even one kid makes a different choice to put a gun down, then we’re doing something. And I would say that if anybody that would like to be involved in the efforts that we have that have been ongoing, we’re happy for them to be able to join us.