SYRACUSE, N.Y. – On the corner of Cannon and West Newell streets, there’s a seemingly empty lot. But to Clifford Ryan, this area carries a deep history filled with grief, remembrance and resilience. 

Ryan is the founder of the non-profit organization OG’s Against Violence, which stands for Our Generation Against Violence. This organization started in response to Ryan losing his 17-year-old son to gun violence right by this lot. 

“He was shot in cold blood,” Ryan said. “We decided to memorialize this area in honor of that tragedy as well as other tragic situations that have happened in this area.” 

Ryan said that he uses a “boots on the ground approach” to try to stop violence first-hand. To date, Ryan said he has stopped 44 shootings, over 300 stabbings and more than a thousand fights. 

“I wanted to make sure I gave a full effort to honor him,” Ryan said. 

The Syracuse Police Department also is involved in having more eyes on this issue by working with the state. 

“Money comes in from the governor’s office, so it’s our gun violence initiatives where we have officers on the street doing proactive details, in different areas of the city obviously,” said Kieran Coffey, a SPD spokesperson.

Coffey said they have recovered nearly 240 illegal guns in the area this year. He and the department hope to continue to crack down on this issue to keep the streets of Syracuse safer.

Ryan’s latest efforts include building memorials on every side of the city to honor those that lost lives due to this violence. The first one will be in dedication to his son. He hopes in building this memorial, it can turn this area into a more positive place to help community members dealing with grief.

“I took that boulder of hurt pain and anger off my shoulders and I began to do a positive thing of the community to channel that grief,” Ryan said.