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New Anti-Violence Campaign in Wilmington

official city photo

WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) - Wilmington Mayor Dennis Williams is launching a new anti-violence campaign by visiting some of the city's toughest neighborhoods.

He took to the streets Monday to announce a program called "Cease Violence" that will send former offenders and outreach workers into hotspots to try to deter troubled adults from criminal activity.

He says the program uses a violence-prevention model that has shown good results in parts of Chicago and New Orleans.

Williams says he's visiting the neighborhoods to show citizens he's not what he called a "ninth-floor mayor," isolated from the people he serves.

One of the neighborhoods Williams visited, in the area of Concord Avenue and Washington Street, saw three shootings, including one fatality, from July 27 to Aug. 3.

Don Rush is the News Director and Senior Producer of News and Public Affairs at Delmarva Public Media. An award-winning journalist, Don reports major local issues of the day, from sea level rise, to urban development, to the changing demographics of Delmarva.