HARRISBURG, Pa. — Members of the Harrisburg community are hoping to put an end to gun violence.
"A lot of people think that violence is a law and order emergency, it's really a public health emergency," Dr. Nancy Mimm, a professor at the Harrisburg University of Science & Technology said.
Dr. Mimm is also with the Central Pa. Health Coalition. It's a volunteer-based organization of professors, Central Pa. residents, and local organizations. Their goal is to find solutions to the issues that impact public health.
"It's not a one size fit all solution, so we have to figure out what will work in individual communities," Dr. Mimm said.
From domestic violence to gun violence, she says they're targeting kids from the ages of 6 to 12.
"We need to get to these children at a young age because what we're seeing in the world today, especially in Harrisburg, is a public health emergency," she said.
While they're still in the early stages of this program, Dr. Mimm says they'll conduct small pilot programs to see what works for various communities in Central Pa.
She says they'll use a scientific approach to help the youth in our area.
"We need to use an evidence-informed solution to try to narrow down and find out what the root cause is, so that we can help people with the solution," she said.