ThePine Bluff Interested Citizens for Voter Registration (PBICVR), Turning Point Youth Center
(TP), Inc., Being Brothers for Kids(BBFK) set toestablishthe twenty-fifth national chapter of Voices of Black Mothers United(VBMU) in Arkansas. This initiative, a Woodson Center
endeavor in Arkansas. Pine Bluff will serve as the home-base for the Arkansas chapter of Voices of Black Mothers United (VBMU).
THE VMU INAUGURAL MEETINGIS SCHEDULEDFORSATURDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2024 AT 12NOON DONALDW. REYNOLDS COMMUNITY SERVICES CENTER-211 West3rd Avenue -PineBluff, Arkansas In 2023 and 2024 there has been an uptick in youth homicides in Pine Bluff, with victims being 18 years old or younger. Gunviolence has resulted in the deaths of nine Black males, including two sixteen-year- oldsa n d one eighteen-year-old. Forty percent of the 29 recent homicides involved youths under seventeen, all of whom were Black.
Consequently,t h e PBICVR CAN affiliate has recognized the necessity to establish Voices of Black Mothers United in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, in collaboration with various partners. This initiative offers hope and strength to mothers who have endured the loss of a child to gun violence. The agony of losing achild is immeasurable, and the sorrow is intensified by the lack ofsupport for the bereavedmothers and
families. Fellowship among these mothersserves as ameans of mutual empowerment, where Voices of Black Mothers United enables familymemberst o share their unique stories and heighten awareness of the tragic loss of Black children toviolence in Pine Bluffeach year.The initiative, led by the Woodson Center Voices of Black Mothers United and their Pine Bluff CAN affiliate inpartnership with other organizations, aims to reduce gunviolence amongyouth and adults by 5% in its first year.
Light Refreshments will be serveda n dfor more information contact Pastors Jesse C. Turner, Yolanda Pitts and Rev. James Hill Jr. @ 870.730.1131
