MACON, Ga. — On Thursday, it was District 7 commissioner Bill Howell's turn to host the latest Macon Violence Prevention Forum in south Macon.
People expressed concerns about the violence across the county this year and some even wanted to find ways they could help.
Grace Terry came to the forum from Byron, saying she considers herself a resident of all of Central Georgia.
"How can I make a difference? I think that if every one of us would do what we could do, it would be more than enough."
She said she was glad she showed up.
"There were some awesomely good ideas, and there were some other comments that really broke my heart. You know, the man that said the solution is to keep them in jail longer. We're not gonna punish our way out of this problem."
Alonza Crittenden and his fiancée, Solondria Vickers, live in the Bloomfield area of Macon.
"We've never been to anything like this. We never been to a town meeting, so this was very nerve-wracking, but I wanted to be here, I wanted us to be here together," said Crittenden.
They also stood up to speak, telling the room about their organization and ways they work to speak to and host fun activity days for young children in the area.
They also talked about the violence they experienced in their apartment complex back in December, when 16-year-old Elijah Jones was found shot dead in a car in the Sandy Springs Apartments.
Crittenden said the goal is to bring awareness to the dangers of gun violence.
"You can't save them all, but the ones that we can save, those are the ones we're gonna save," said Crittenden.
Commissioner Howell added that all of the comments that are made during these forums will be written down and discussed once they're all complete.
The next forum will be on Monday, July 26, at the Frank Johnson Recreation Center in Unionville.
It starts at 6 p.m.