The escalating violence in the city of Syracuse - is prompting members of the community to take action.

"We are in this fight because our children are worth it," says Collette Matthews Carter, Pastor at Zion Hill World Harvest Baptist Church.

In just over a week, there have been three shootings and a stabbing, all involving young victims. Area leaders say this is way past the point of enough.

Religious leaders, business owners, and activists held a "Community Think Tank" Saturday.

It's part of an initiative called VOICE: Violence Overcome by Involving Community Effort, to stop the gun violence in the city. 

"We're outraged and we're hurt, we're very concerned about our young people, it is unfathomable to think and believe a 12 year old can be shot and killed in our city," says Matthews Carter. 

The community think tank came up with seven different strategies to try to reduce violence. The strategies will be presented to Mayor Ben Walsh and the police department. 

"One is a cultural identity strategy, we would like to launch an 'I am Syracuse' campaign. Research indicates that children of color with a strong sense of cultural identity and a sense of belonging are less likely to participate in violent behavior, even with environmental influences."

The other strategies include collaboration with the Syracuse City school district and more business engagement. The tank also wants to create a task force and get local churches involved. But they say the biggest component is consistency.

"Understand it's going to take the entire city approaching it with different strategies to make sure we do something concrete," says community organizer Merriette Pollard. "We talk about it quite often and come together when something happens. But then a few months later, that whole concept of what happened is gone."

This was the final meeting in a three-part initiative.