Greensboro summit pushes community-driven violence prevention efforts

Greensboro’s latest violence prevention summit turned the spotlight from speeches to follow-through, as city officials, residents and youth leaders pressed for community-driven solutions that can be measured, funded and sustained. Cities United brought 19 other jurisdictions to Greensboro for a two-day peer exchange on Wednesday and Thursday, June 17-18, 2026, underscoring how closely other cities are watching the city’s safety strategy.

Cities United executive director Anthony Smith said Greensboro’s Comprehensive Community Safety Plan helped inspire the decision to host the summit here. Smith framed the work as a direct effort to reduce community violence, stop young people from dying from gun violence and identify, engage and support those most at risk, especially young Black men and boys.

The city has been building that approach for years. Greensboro’s Community Safety Department says its violence-prevention work centers on action plans developed with violence interruption groups and neighborhood participation. The Greensboro Collaborative Action Network, known as GSO CAN, brings together residents, city departments, law enforcement, public health leaders, education partners, business owners and faith leaders in a shared effort to produce lasting change.

The summit also reflected the city’s longer public-safety timeline. Greensboro launched its five-year Comprehensive Community Safety Plan in June 2025, focusing on prevention, intervention and interruption. Before that, the Safer City initiative began in January 2017 with a summit at the Greensboro Coliseum and organized working groups around employment, youth, housing and gangs. The city’s own history shows that officials have been trying to build a broader response to violent crime for nearly a decade, even as pressure remains high to show results.

Youth voices were part of the conversation. Walter Waldrum, 19, said he survived a shooting in July 2024 and later founded Unify to Strive. Waldrum said social media is a major factor influencing teen violence, a reminder that prevention efforts now have to reach far beyond policing and into the digital spaces where conflicts can spread.

That larger message matched the tone of the gathering: violence prevention in Greensboro is being framed as a community-wide responsibility, not only a law enforcement issue. With the city still facing deep concern over violence, the test now is whether the summit produces concrete coordination, steady investment and public accountability across Guilford County.