January 06, 2006

Nazareth & Baber A.M.E. Church Hold Town Meeting to Stop Youth Violence, Jan. 19

Nazareth College and the Baber African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church invite the residents of the Meigs-Pearl-Monroe-South Clinton neighborhood to a Town Hall Meeting on Thursday, Jan. 19, at the Baber AME Church, 550 Meigs Street in Rochester. The meeting is the result of a new partnership between the College and the church that was created to address youth violence in this specific part of the Rochester community. A light meal will be served at 6 p.m., and at 7 p.m. the community conversation begins with Rev. Marlowe V.N. Washington of the Baber AME Church and President Daan Braveman of Nazareth College. If a weather emergency should occur, the event would be held on Jan. 26. For more information, please call Melanie Trotter-Jiggett of Baber AME Church at (585) 461-1395 or Jed Metzger of Nazareth College at (585) 395-8454.

"The cornerstone of this collaboration between Nazareth and Baber AME Church is community engagement in the neighborhood and echoing the themes of the New Year that Rochester Mayor Duffy is bringing into office," says Jed Metzger, assistant professor of social work at Nazareth. Baber AME has established a Center for Social Change at their facility on the corner of Meigs St. and South Clinton Ave. The town hall meeting is the first step in gathering the voice of the neighborhood into the functions and ways they would like the Center to serve their community.

The Center for Social Change will bring the resources of Nazareth College's social work faculty and students to support the programming that the neighborhood believes will directly lead to a safer environment for youth and the neighborhood as a whole.

Contact: Julie Long
E-Mail: jlong2@naz.edu
Phone: (585) 389-2456