WATCH NOW: Join a discussion on improving neighborhoods, reducing gun violence in Missouri

In Missouri’s largest cities, dense concentrations of vacant lots and abandoned buildings contribute to increased gun violence.

Studies have shown that maintaining neighborhoods can go a long way to reducing violent crime including homicides, particularly in areas that have seen systemic disinvestment for decades.

In St. Louis vacancy is rampant, with thousands of empty lots and abandoned buildings. Kansas City has a similar story. While St. Louis is investing tens of millions of dollars in fixing up those properties, efforts in Kansas City haven’t been backed with similar resources.

Join American Public Square at Jewell and The Kansas City Star at 12:30 p.m. on August 4 for the next program in our series Gun Violence in Missouri: Seeking Solutions. The discussion will be live-streamed on The Star’s website.

The discussion will focus on how improving neighborhoods and built environments can help reduce gun violence, thus improving outcomes for Missouri communities.

Read our latest story on the topic here.

This digital event is part of the Missouri Gun Violence Project, a two-year, statewide journalism collaboration investigating the causes and possible solutions to gun violence. It is supported by the nonprofits Report for America and Missouri Foundation for Health. The Star has partnered on this project with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the Springfield News-Leader and the Missouri Independent.

The panelists include:

Laura Ginn, a vacancy strategist for the St. Louis Land Reutilization Authority

Erin Royals, a neighborhood outreach and research coordinator at the UMKC Center for Neighborhoods

Sundy Whiteside, board president of the St Louis Association of Community Organizations

The discussion will be moderated by Humera Lodhi, a member of the gun violence reporting team at The Kansas City Star.

This story was originally published July 16, 2021 at 1:04 PM.