ROCHESTER, N.Y. — One may notice a lot of people wearing orange this weekend.

Friday marks the start of National Gun Violence Awareness Day and Wear Orange Weekend to honor gun violence survivors.

Rochester City School District Superintendent Dr. Lesli Myers-Small is calling on the community to wear orange in honor of Gun Violence Awareness Day.

“It is our hope that peace will prevail in our community, rather than resulting in violence,” said Dr. Myers-Small.

The school superintendent has become outspoken about gun violence in the city because many shootings hit too close to home.

“I have spoken to far too many parents and caregivers who have had a child injured or killed,” said Dr. Myers-Small. “I have attended far too many funerals, and as a leader in our community, I feel it’s a moral and ethical responsibility of me to call the question and say I have concerns.”

The Monroe County Sheriff’s Office is on board with the campaign to wear orange and stop gun violence. Undersheriff Korey Brown says gun violence is up in Monroe County and across the state.

“All we’re trying to do is prevent people from being shot, and I think that’s the whole wear orange right, how do we stop the next victim?” Undersheriff Brown said. “No one wants to be the next victim. No one wants to stand outside someone’s home and make a homicide notify for the next victim. So how do we as a community work together to stop that? And that’s what the initiative is about: how do we each individually try to take a step to help prevent that?”

The sheriff’s office has educational programs for gun owners, since a number of shootings involve weapons stolen from other parts of Monroe County and used in the city. The undersheriff says they’re also working with violent offenders in jail to find alternative paths once they're released.

“I think as a community, as a whole, we want to intervene,” said Undersheriff Brown. “So if you know of someone that’s committing gun violence, if you know somebody that has an illegal gun, you want to intervene in that person’s life so they don’t continue to go down that road. Because what’s going to happen is they’re going to be the suspect or the victim of a violent crime.”

Superintendent Myers-Small is also asking for peace, and that members of the community take time out to connect with young people in the city.

“We have to make the shift from this being the norm, to — I won’t even say being the exception — that it just needs to stop,” said Dr. Myers-Small.

Stop the Violence rallies and marches are taking place around Rochester on Saturday. For more information, click here.