Seventh annual Nonviolence Parade is next Sunday

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

The seventh annual Nonviolence Parade and Rally will take place at 3 p.m. next Sunday.

The parade kicks off Nonviolence Week in Ohio, which is next Sunday through Oct. 7, and will begin at the intersection of Wood and Wick streets proceeding through downtown to the Covelli Centre on East Front Street.

The rally will follow immediately after the parade.

Nonviolence Week has been celebrated in Youngstown since 2010, when at the request of Mahoning Valley Sojourn to the Past students, Nonviolence Week resolutions were passed by Youngstown City Council, Youngstown school board, Youngstown State University trustees and Mahoning County commissioners.

The first nonviolence parade and rally in 2011 was the idea of a Sojourn student, Janae Ward.

At the request of those Sojourn students, state Sen. Joe Schiavoni of Boardman, D-33rd, introduced into the Ohio Senate a “Nonviolence Week in Ohio” bill, which was signed into law by Gov. John Kasich on July 11, 2013.

At the rally, there will be a board titled, “Unforgettable Violence.” People may bring pictures of loved ones or friends and write their names on a card to place on the board.

The purpose of Nonviolence Week is to make the community stop and think about the need to work for nonviolence in the community, organizers said.

The DeBartolo Corporation is sponsoring Nonviolence Week in Mahoning Valley.

For information contact Penny Wells, director of Mahoning Valley Sojourn to the Past, at 330-788-0545 or pennywwells@sbcglobal.net.