Wearing bright orange in honor of gun violence awareness, community leaders and residents participated in a Peace Walk through downtown Kankakee Monday morning.

As part of a national day of action led by Cities United, several local organizations joined jurisdictions across the country in taking steps toward violence prevention and awareness for the “Walk It Out to End Community Violence” event.

The walk aimed to have leaders gather across the nation in solidarity for healing, remembrance and community-led safety solutions.

Another goal of the inaugural Peace Walk, said Rhonda Currie, Illinois Coalition for Community Services fundraising director, is visibility for the cause.

“There are so many partners and people who are standing against violence, saying that we don’t want it in our community. We don’t want it in our nation,” Currie said. “And so if we can just come together to make programs and activities for our youth, our young people, that give them an outlet so that they don’t have to turn to gun violence.”

Organizations joining ICCS in Monday’s effort were Kankakee Forgives, Kankakee United, Duane Dean, Kankakee City Life, Live Free, Still I Rise, Harbor House and the Kankakee Police Department.

Over a dozen participants departed from the Kankakee Forgives office at 209 E. Court St. on the Peace Walk, which took place in conjunction with June’s National Gun Violence Awareness Month designation.

Anthony D. Smith, executive director of Cities United, a national network of mayors and local leaders focused on community-led violence prevention, said the walk marks 15 years of work building community-led public safety ecosystems.

“This walk serves as both a celebration of progress and a call to action,” he said. “Reducing community violence requires all of us to show up, stand together and remain steadfast in the work.

“It is a visible declaration that violence is preventable, healing is possible and young Black men and boys deserve the opportunity not only to survive, but to thrive.”

According to the CDC, nationally, 19,263 people die by gun homicide in an average year, a rate of 6.1 deaths per 100,000 people. Of those deaths, 4,418 children and teens die by guns every year.

Black people in the United States are 12 times more likely than white people to die by gun homicide, while Black children and teens are six times more likely than their white peers to die by guns, according to CDC statistics.

“Gun violence is a pandemic that continues to sweep across the country, but also has affected my family personally,” Currie said. “I walk for all those who have lost a loved one due to gun violence in Kankakee and across the world."

For more information and local events, visit Kankakee United’s website at ku.citykankakee-il.gov.