Council member Willie Lightfoot, founder and chairman of the Rock Against Gun Violence Coalition, said the coalition has a signed memorandum of understanding with the mayor’s office to continue the coalition’s work and that the mayor will sign the agreement soon.
The agreement “is on the mayor’s desk to be signed,” Lightfoot said, announcing the written commitment as the group outlined new violence‑prevention programs, training opportunities and a planned community screening of an Oscar‑nominated short film.
The memorandum of understanding formalizes the coalition’s relationship with city government and, Lightfoot said, allows him to continue the work on a separate platform after his transition from council. He said the coalition and city staff are also working on a second gun‑trace data report due to be drafted by Brady and the Rochester Police Department and targeted for completion by December.
Why it matters: the MOU and the city‑led gun‑trace report are intended to sustain the coalition’s programs and to provide publicly accessible data intended to inform prevention and enforcement strategies. Coalition leaders also described program launches meant to expand outreach, training and real‑time community‑police communication.
Office of Violence Prevention updates
Zeke, a staff member with the City of Rochester Office of Violence Prevention, said the office is launching several programmatic initiatives this fall. He said the city’s Advanced Peace peacemaker fellowship is entering its fourth cohort and that the program has about 30 fellows — the largest cohort yet.
“We have our fourth cohort. We have about 30 members,” Zeke said, describing the program that works with formerly violent gun offenders in a peacemaker fellowship model.
Zeke said the office will launch a youth reintegration pilot in November aimed at young people who have had brushes with the law (probation, school reintegration or release from detention). He said the youth reintegration program will be referral‑based and that the Office is coordinating referrals with JEDS, the New York State Office of Children and Family Services and Monroe County.
A separate series of community courses, called Pathways to Peace, will offer seven courses addressing topics such as conflict resolution, mediation, parenting and social media awareness. Zeke said the Pathways offering will be open to about 70 participants when scheduling is finalized.
Zeke also described a community‑police public safety forum, branded “ROC United,” modeled on an Omaha 360 format to provide real‑time updates from police and service providers; he said a pilot session drew about 17 attendees and an official launch date will be announced.
Police statistics
Captain Murrah of the Rochester Police Department reported enforcement statistics for September and year‑to‑date shooting and homicide counts.
“For September, we got 30 handguns off the street, 8 long guns and 6 ghost guns,” Captain Murrah said. He said those investigations led to 42 criminal‑possession‑of‑weapon arraignments: seven people were held without bail; 25 had cash bail set (11 of those at $5,000 or less); and nine were released with nonmonetary conditions or appearance tickets.
Murrah provided year‑to‑date counts: 29 homicides, 127 shooting incidents and 140 shooting victims, and he said the median age of shooting victims was 29. He said more detailed demographic data on arrests and incidents would be distributed by email to coalition participants.
Training and services
Dr. Shaili Sanai (presenting for the public health partnership) said the Monroe County Department of Public Health is hosting Cure Violence Global trainings this fall. The trainings are described as week‑long, Monday–Friday sessions for managers, supervisors and outreach workers.
The current training week was scheduled Oct. 20–24 at 111 Westfall St., the county health building, with a subsequent training for outreach workers in the week of Nov. 17 and additional sessions planned in December. Dr. Sanai said the trainings are free and that participants receive refreshments.
Crisis intervention and victim services staff reported operational activity for September: staff fielded 309 domestic incident reports from RPD, made 316 outreach attempts and assisted with four homicide cases. Victim counts by ZIP code included 46 victims in 14621, 33 in 14609 and 27 in 14613; staff answered 64 main‑line calls.
The person‑in‑crisis response team reported 98 co‑response calls and 129 telecounseling or related calls for the month of September.
Data hub, resource guide and outreach
Lightfoot said the coalition is continuing work on a resource guide and a longer‑term data hub (described as a “lake house”) to fill data gaps. He asked coalition members and partners to complete a survey the coalition is using to design a pilot for the data hub; staff reported about 10–11 responses so far and said they were targeting roughly 15 responses to proceed with planning.
Film screening and community dialogue
Lightfoot said the coalition will host a regional screening and community discussion of the Oscar‑nominated short film Death by the Numbers on Saturday, Dec. 6, from 6 p.m. to about 8 p.m. at his church, 270 Cumberland St. The screening will include a post‑show discussion with the film’s writer and survivor Sam Fuentes. Registration will be free but seats limited; the coalition plans to provide food and on‑site support services (clinicians) for attendees who may be triggered by the film.
Next steps and timing
Lightfoot said the gun‑trace data report is on a fast timeline and that the coalition expects a draft near or in December. He also said the MOU is executed by him and the coalition and is awaiting the mayor’s signature. The coalition’s next regular meeting is scheduled for Nov. 10; Lightfoot said coalition leaders would present parts of a “Vision 2026” at that meeting.
Votes and formal actions
No formal votes or ordinance actions were recorded at the meeting. The memorandum of understanding described by Lightfoot is a signed agreement between Lightfoot and the mayor’s office and is administrative in nature; the mayor’s final signature was reported as pending.
Ending
Coalition organizers asked members to complete the survey for the data hub pilot and to share registration information for the film screening. Lightfoot closed the meeting with a reminder of the Nov. 10 meeting and said members should expect follow‑up materials and minutes by email.