The top four contenders to be New Orleans’ next mayor vowed to reduce crime through expanding youth programming, mental health care and other resources at an Aug. 4 Silence is Violence forum at Franklin Avenue Baptist Church.
Unlike the previous forums so far, which were front loaded with candidate statements and Q&A sessions, Monday’s forum began with speeches from two parents who’d lost their sons to gun violence.
The issue affects so many families in the city that Constanza Porche told the more than 100 people at the forum she ended up paying for two caskets because another woman, who she’d never met and had lost her son around the same time, had found out her son’s funeral wouldn’t be covered by insurance…