Congregations United to Reduce Violence (CURV) Indy is an interfaith group that supports the Indianapolis’ Gun Violence Reduction Strategy (GVRS) program.
CURV seeks to build broad community support for the city to continue and grow the work necessary to redeem people for a safer community.
The goal is to curve violence toward peace.
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“The overall goal is to support the gun violence reduction strategy for the city of Indianapolis. We’re cheerleaders for the program. It needs strong community support,” said Larry Kane with CURV.
The churches involved are:
St. Luke’s United Methodist Church North, Indianapolis Hebrew Congregation Church, St. Albans Episcopal Church, Masjid Al-Mumineen, Downey Avenue Christian Church, Shalom Mennonite Church, First Congregational Church and North United Methodist Church.
Two CURV members serve on the Marion County Youth Violence Prevention Coalition Policy Committee; two are members of Church Women United; one is the founder of Use What You Got Prison Transportation Ministry and is a member of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America.
Congregations United to Reduce Violence
CURV also collaborates with Stop the Violence Indianapolis and Hoosiers Concerned About Gun Violence.
“This program shows that there is something we can do. We as a community can make this happen. We don’t want to sit back and do nothing,” said CURV Networking Team Leader Mary Boggs.
She said the organization did research related to violence for about a year. They researched best practices for reducing gun violence in areas and also networked with other groups and congregations.
Although CURV concentrates on the seven types of gun violence — suicide, accidental gun shootings, domestic violence, terrorism, mass shootings, police shootings and street violence — street violence is what they have been primarily focused on.
“This is affecting all of us. Even if it’s not happening in our neighborhoods, we know someone who has been affected. It doesn’t matter if you’re on the Northside, or the Eastside, or the Westside. We cannot continue to live like this,” said Boggs.
CURV members attend community nonviolence events, including the current Prayer for Peace hosted around the city. CURV supports the Indy Peace Fellowship.
The next meet the Indy Peacemaker event will be held at St. Luke’s United Methodist Church, 100 W. 86th St., at 6:00 p.m. Thursday, August 10. All who attend will learn about gun violence reduction strategy.
Contact staff writer Jade Jackson at 317-607-5792 or by email jadej@indyrecorder.com. Follow her on Twitter @IAMJADEJACKSON
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