Urbana High School Principal working to end gun violence

URBANA, Ill. (WAND) - Urbana High School Principal, Taren Nance is working to end gun violence by collaborating with other community leaders.

Nance started this collective after he attended the funeral of one of his own students back in December. After that, he put the plans in motion to end gun violence in Champaign-Urbana neighborhoods.

Nance has worked with community leaders like the Mayor of Champaign, and the Urbana Superintendent.

“I knew I came here with a mission to end gun violence and be the best principal so that’s when I started thinking about what can I do. I knew that it was a society issue so, I knew I had to get the collective community together at one table.” said Nance.

Since April, Nance has been meeting with these leaders weekly to discuss problems in these neighborhoods and how they plan to fix them moving forward.

Founding member, Maurice Hayes says while other members focus helping children outside of school, Nance can focus on helping students in school.

“He’s a principal, he’s in academics. He’s in the school system. That’s one place that all of our kids are going to enter at some point. If he’s working to change it from that level, and we’re working to change it from the street level, then we’re in a better position to change our grandkids situation that’s coming in the next 20 years.” states Hayes.

As the year continues, they plan to help students stay away from guns and lead them in a different way.