CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (WCIA) — In Champaign, the community came together Thursday night in a forum to combat youth violence.

It was set up at the Champaign Library. Around 30 people showed up for dinner and a discussion about how to keep children and themselves safe from violence this Fourth of July weekend.

The meeting was set up following the deadly shooting on Sunday in Champaign which left one 16-year-old dead and another hospitalized.

“At the end of the day, it’s time for the community to stand up,” said youth mentor Banio Koroma Jr. “Right now, the community is fed up with the killings, they’re fed up with our kids getting murdered, gunned down in the streets. It’s about time that we stand up and say, ‘not anymore.’ We’re tired of the same thing and we’re ready for a change, and right now we’re demanding change.”

“I feel like around the Fourth of July, there’s always some type of something bad that happens,” said organizer Chyna Figueroa-Dixon. “But I will say with the recent death being just one week ago, and that being a minority Black boy underage, we really wanted to go into the weekend where we don’t have that same thing happen. Where we wake up Saturday morning and we’ve lost another one of ours.”

There is another community engagement meeting scheduled for July 13 at the Champaign Library. The public is invited to attend.