BUFFALO, NY — “No excuses.”

That’s the message from community members following the shooting and stabbing at McKinley High School three weeks ago.

On Thursday evening, members of the We Are Women Warriors group held a forum to discuss how to unite the community and protect students. The conversation will be the first in a series about violence affecting young people in the black community.

The group’s goal is “to improve the quality of life and well-being of downtown residents and their children.”

Speakers included local activists, religious leaders and Buffalo Public School board member Sharon Belton-Cottman. She says the conversation to help kids has to start at home.

“Our kids don’t have the support they should have. There’s no way things are going on in our community, blood is flowing in our community and we’re not enraged,” Belton-said Cottman.

The group says that to help we all need to address the quality and conditions of neighborhoods and what is happening at home for students who may be struggling.

“Every child, every student, should be able to rest assured that they can travel from home to school, participate in the learning process and any extracurricular program, and be able to be discharged, and then travel anywhere and everywhere and throughout the community and then return home safely,” said Betty Jean Grant, Founder/President of We Are Women Warriors.

The talks will take place on the last Thursday of the month until the end of the year. The Warriors plan to draft a community pact document regarding youth violence based on conversations throughout the year. It will then be handed over to politicians with detailed recommendations and suggestions.