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A diverse group of community leaders and city officials assured residents today that they will be working together to cut down on gun violence.

They announced the new initiative, “Stop the Violence Summer,” at a press conference held in City Hall this afternoon.

“You’ve never seen a coalition such as this,” Rev. Kevin Nunn [pictured at podium] said, flanked by officials from City Hall, the Asbury Park Police Department, local churches and the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office. “We will not move until we see change in our city.”

Nunn presided over the conference, opening a speech by saying he and the other community leaders “stand in total solidarity in expressing our condolences for the loss of Geneva Kelly’s son Donte Kelly,” who was the victim of an apparent homicide early Sunday morning in the city.

Donte Kelly was not the first son Ms. Kelly lost to gun violence. Her elder son, Jakeema Kelly, was the victim of a homicide in 2006, Nunn said.

“We are standing here united to renounce not only the killing of Donte Kelly, but all of the killings and violence that have taken place in the city of Asbury Park,” Nunn said. “Make no mistake. We are here to stop the violence. We’re sick of it. We are tired of it. We are fed up with it and we ain’t taking it no more.”

Nunn and city manager Terence Reidy are heading up the initiative together, with the support of other community leaders, Nunn said.

COORDINATED EFFORTS

Local leaders will take stock of all of the city’s anti-violence and prevention programs run by the recreation department, churches, the schools and nonprofit groups. This will enable officials to determine which areas are lacking and which, if any, are being duplicated, Nunn said.

“There are recreation programs, job initiatives and community programs that have been in motion, some for even 20 years,” Nunn said. “We all have been doing something. We all have not been doing the same thing.”

He also emphasized the importance of parents in decreasing crime along with community programs.

“We can do everything in the world but raise the children that live in the houses of these people,” he said. “Residents of Asbury Park, a program cannot make us raise your children. That has to begin in the home.”

The city will also continue use of the Community Development Initiative in keeping track of programs, said Thomas Huth, assistant prosecutor and director of the major crimes unit in the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office.

“One of the goals of that coalition is to provide the coordination, cooperation and communication amongst the agencies out there,” Huth said. “We know there are a lot of good things going on in the city and we know there’s a lot of duplication and people doing their own thing. What we’re talking about … is coordinating our efforts and moving forward.”

STOP THE VIOLENCE SUMMER SCHOOL

This summer, several community groups will collaborate on Stop the Violence Summer School, Nunn said.

Two weeks after the school year ends, students in middle school and high school will be invited to the summer camp, which includes focus groups, arts and crafts and talk sessions with adults who have experienced street violence.

The Neptune-Asbury Ministerial Alliance held a two-week Stop the Violence Summer School in 2010, Nunn said, but this year, city council members, more church members, and other citizens will help organize the camp. The organizers may also include a slightly higher age range, he said.

The group is also working on a program for people ages 21 to 40, also to be put in place by the summer, Nunn said. It will include conflict resolution, job re-entry programs for people who have just gotten out of jail, food and clothing programs and more.

COMMUNITY MEETING

Community leaders will host a meeting on Saturday at Martin Luther King Presbyterian Church, 15 Memorial Ave., at 5 p.m., Nunn said. The public is invited to attend.

“The community meeting will take place with residents, city leaders, pastors — I don’t care if it’s gang members, whoever it is, we will hash out our differences and begin the healing process,” Nunn said.

COOPERATING WITH POLICE

A key roadblock in many homicide cases has been witnesses’ reluctance to speak to the authorities, acting Monmouth County Prosecutor Chris Gramiccioni said.

“We want to close these cases more than anything,” Gramiccioni said, noting that Jakeema Kelly’s homicide case has been open for seven years.

The county will soon roll out a Crime Stoppers program, a nonprofit initiative that allows people to anonymously convey information, assistance or tips on criminal matters to the authorities. In some cases, cash rewards will be provided in exchange for information.

Even background information can help point the authorities in the right direction, Gramiccioni said, and most witnesses or tipsters don’t end up in a court room “sitting in the box, pointing at the person who committed the crime,” he said.

Nunn also noted the community’s role in helping law enforcement officials.

“If you know your son is running with the wrong people and carrying guns and stabbing and robbing and [you] refuse to step up when the police or anyone else comes through, then it’s very hard for anybody else to do their job,” Nunn said.

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