Harrisburg, Pa. - Some city residents have been working together to take back the streets, and they believe it is helping. There have been no reported shootings for a week now.

There was another anti-violence meeting Thursday night at a Harrisburg church. Ideas are turning into action.  Some folks have taken their message of peace to the streets, and they plan to continue.

Lori McNeil is among dozens of city residents who are committed to ending the violence in Harrisburg. There's been lots of talk, several community meetings, and now we've starting to see more action.

"We are in the process of letting people know in our community that we care," said Kingdom Embassy Church member Lori McNeil. "We want to know what's your issue and how can we help so we have done some things."

Last Friday night, McNeil hit the streets of Uptown with a fellow church member. They talked to about 30 people.

"We go to an infested area where people are just standing out and we ask them how are you doing today, and can we pray for you." said McNeil.

Their message of peace may be helping. The gun violence subsided over the past week. Though, a certain way of thinking has not. One resident stopped short of condoning the recent shootings and gunfire.

"At first I didn't understand, but you don't know what happened between the people that did it," said Harrisburg resident Ronald Whittaker. "Sometimes people force your hand as long as everyone else is safe, and no innocent bystanders are involved, i'm not mad at them."

Tiffiney Penn is a mother of two. She says stopping the violence starts at home.

"I keep hearing a lot about parents need to do this and parents need to do that," Penn said. "I've said it myself. And then I thought what is there in the community to support parents?"

Penn is launching a parent support group in Harrisburg starting in August. It's a place for moms and dads to go twice a month for extra advice on how to prevent kids' dangerous behavior.

"Just to be able to provide something like that in the community for those parents, maybe it'll change some things that are taking place in the community," Penn said.

For more information about the parents support group, contact Tiffiney Penn at 717-379-0433 or tiffiney_penn@hotmail.com.

Kingdom Embassy Church also has some other anti-violence activities and programs in the works. We'll pass that information along when it becomes official.

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