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Community leaders joining forces to reduce gun violence in the future

By targeting at-risk youth
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LEON COUNTY, Fla. (WTXL) — By finding the root cause of violence, community leaders are establishing a council to help reduce deadly shootings in the future.

"The research into the council definitely makes sense."

Kenton Findlay lives in Tallahassee. He hopes the community can get it right this time when it comes to addressing gun violence and young people.

"Understanding of how to communicate with them."

Tuesday, the Leon County Commission approved the final draft charter and budget changes for the Council on the Status of Men and Boys.

Leon County Schools District is now on board to work with city and county leaders to address the underlying causes of violence.

"We're just trying to identify an internal mechanism to pay for the original cost-estimate, and then see how we can continue to be involved in the future years."

District Spokesperson, Chris Petley, says they're just working out how the money will look on their end for the council.

"It's something vitally important for our community."

The need for the council came after the Leon County Sheriff's Office conducted an in-depth study called the Anatomy of a Homicide Project.

With the final draft charter approved, the council will have three different components: a leadership council, executive steering committee, and several subcommittees. With these branches, they'll work to help men and boys who are most at-risk in the community. From there, they'll implement prevention and intervention plans.

Something Kenton hopes will improve quality of life going forward…

"Come together and figure out what works what doesn't work it'll then lead to a conversation of why this isn't working or what solutions can we do."

The total start-up cost of the new council is 350 thousand dollars.

The Leon County School Board will take the next step toward funding the project within the next two weeks.