Columbia Office of Violence Prevention leader to meet with youth advisory council Tuesday

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Columbia's leader of the Office of Violence Prevention will meet with the city's youth advisory council on Tuesday night.

According to an agenda, council members will meet D'Markus Thomas-Brown for an introduction, as well as hear a presentation from Thomas-Brown. The presentation focuses on the goals of the Office of Violence Prevention, including addressing the root causes of violence in the community by emphasizing the importance of collaborative efforts.

The council had previously planned to invite Thomas-Brown to one of its meetings, according to an agenda. Thomas-Brown had told ABC 17 News at the time that he would be open to the idea.

Thomas-Brown told ABC 17 News on Monday that his office is hoping to conduct a gun violence problem analysis to examine drivers of youth violence during the past 12-24 months, after several instances of youth violence this year. The plan still needs to be approved by the Columbia City Council.

Thomas-Brown also said his office is working a violence reduction landscape analysis, aimed at focusing on who is connecting with at-risk youth in the community.

Tuesday night's meeting is at 6 p.m. at Columbia City Hall.