CINCINNATI – U.S. Attorney Benjamin C. Glassman and Cincinnati Police Chief Eliot K. Isaac united with middle school students this morning in taking a stand against violence.

The law enforcement officials joined a sixth grade class at Ethel M. Taylor Academy in signing a voluntary pledge promising that they will never take a gun to school, will never resolve a dispute with a gun and will use their influence to prevent friends from using guns to resolve disputes.

In coordination with the Department of Justice’s Project Safe Neighborhoods program, the Student Pledge Against Gun Violence is a national program that recognizes the role that young people, through their own decisions, can play in reducing gun violence. This campaign against youth gun violence culminates each October in a Day of National Concern about Young People and Gun Violence. Students from around the country join together in pledging to do their part to end gun violence. More than 10 million students nationwide have signed the pledge since its inception in 1996.

2017 marks the inaugural year for the initiative in the Southern District of Ohio, and U.S. Attorney Glassman has invited schools throughout the entire District to participate.

“The pledge is right: individual choices and actions, when multiplied by young people throughout the Southern District of Ohio and across the country, will make a difference,” Glassman said. “I’m proud to partner with Cincinnati Public Schools and the Cincinnati Police Department in working to prevent violence. Most of all, I’m proud of the students who took the pledge today and who will honor it going forward. They are the key to a better future for all of us.”

“I was truly inspired from our time with these amazing sixth graders in taking the pledge to make their communities, their city, and their country a safe place,” said Cincinnati Police Chief Eliot Isaac. “Fighting gun violence is of one of Cincinnati Police Department’s highest priorities and we are working strategically with our local and federal partners as well as Cincinnati Public Schools to end the senseless violence in our City. One the best ways we can start to do that is by working with and educating our youth on the effects of violence.”

If your school would like to participate in the pledge, contact Jennifer Thornton at jennifer.thornton@usdoj.gov .

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