Wilmington residents will receive an update from city council next week about the CDC study of the area’s gun-related violence.
The long-awaited CDC report released in November was requested by Councilwoman Hanifa Shabazz in late 2013. That’s when the number of shooting incidents in the city shot up by 45 percent, resulting in 154 victims.
Shabazz requested the report two years ago, and is working closely with the Department of Health and Social Services to implement the CDC’s recommendations.
“Once we are able to see a trigger that a young person might be demonstrating, we could holistically look at of the needs available in their families and deliver services in an interventive and preventive way instead of waiting for the incident to happen and to only provide treatment," Shabazz said.
Shabazz will focus on implementing three recommendations based on the CDC study, including developing a risk assessment tool to detect individuals likely to commit a firearm crime, creating a data-sharing system between state departments and assembling a community advisory council to work with the state on providing necessary services to at-risk individuals.
The Department of Health and Social Services will also be present at the council meeting that will take place on the evening of March 16 at 6 p.m. Shabazz says it’s time to fully inform members of the community about the report’s findings.
“The community has heard so much about it and they don’t know what the findings are and how implementing those findings will be beneficial to their life,” Shabazz said.
