Anti-violence procession planned for Northwest Philadelphia’s Cliveden Park today

On Sunday afternoon, a faith-based gun-violence prevention “movement” will host residents, churches and community groups from Germantown and Mt. Airy for a “call to action and public witness” event and procession starting at Cliveden Park.

Sponsored by Neighborhood Partners to End Gun Violence, Heeding God’s Call, First United Methodist Church of Germantown, Christ Church and St. Michael’s Episcopal Church, the 3:30 p.m. event is fashioned as a response to the “rising tide of gun violence and recent shootings in [the] neighborhood.”

Public witness

According to a press release from Heeding God’s Call, dozens of expected attendees will unite “in public witness to oppose gun violence in our communities, to end the movement of illegal guns from local gun shops to city streets and the criminal market and to pray and grieve over recent homicides in East Mt. Airy.”

After meeting at Cliveden Park, which is located at Chew Ave. and E. Cliveden St. in East Mt. Airy, the group will hold a procession to the site of a recent East Sharpnack Street homicide and then back to the park.

“We want to bring awareness to the Germantown community about what’s happening out there,” said Rev. Dolores McCabe, coordinator of the murder-site vigils. “We need to say ‘No, we don’t want this anymore.'”

NewsWorks will cover the event and have a full report on Monday.