Peace summit in Larimer brings together domestic abuse survivors with goal of taking action

LARIMER, Pa. — A community peace summit held Wednesday brought out survivors of domestic abuse, speaking out in an effort to help bring about change.

The peace summit marks the second time this year where community members came together to listen, learn and make plans to take action. The four-hour community peace summit was broken into sections, including discussions and breakout groups.

The overall goal was to gain buy-in from individuals, organizations, churches and agencies on some of the action steps and actually put them into place.

The event served as an open forum to tackle hard-hitting issues like domestic violence, teen dating violence and violence against the LGBTQ+ community.

Attendees passed around a recent publication detailing gut-wrenching numbers.

“Forty-three black women and girls have been killed in Allegheny County since 2020 and that number has gone up, so it’s closer to 50 since even this article was published,” said Shayla Holmes, who coordinated the event.

This Community Peace Summit is sponsored by the Greater Pittsburgh Coalition against violence and the Black Political Empowerment Project, also known as BPEP.

“If we’re really serious about it, other than shaking our heads and saying, ‘Isn’t it terrible?’ We need people who will stay at the table and keep coming back, even if it’s just a piece of the agenda that is created out of these conversations,” said Tim Stevens with BPEP.

One of those people who is ready and willing is Tracy Thorpe-Scott. She works with girls to instill their own self-worth and to provide awareness.

“I’m constantly reinforcing for them that they have to have a positive perception of themselves,” said Thorpe-Scott. “Sometimes, I show them videos of girls that are in compromising situations and we will talk about how they might handle that situation a little bit differently.”

The Community Peace Summit will be a monthly gathering at different locations. The next one is slated for April 19.

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