ROCKFORD, Ill. (WTVO) — A local group spent Sunday afternoon educating the community on how to help end the cycle of violence.

The League of Women Voters of Greater Rockford hosted the “Gun Violence Prevention Forum” at Second First Church. It was the second in a series, with Sunday’s panel focusing on children. Representatives from youth organizations were in attendance.

One speaker emphasized that this is a community wide problem.

“When I was talking to the police chief and she told me she had been giving a talk to some middle school students, when she was done, this young man came up to her and said, ‘I’m afraid to go home after school. My mother works, my brother’s in a gang and I don’t want to go home,'” said Jo Minor, Gun Violence Prevention Committee chair. “These are our future, these are our children. When kids as young as 10 and 11 and 12 have guns, there’s definitely something wrong in our community.”