LEXINGTON, Ky. — Community members from over 26 congregations came together Tuesday night urging leaders to take action on violent crimes, affordable housing and mental health. 

BUILD is an organization Belinda Snead says is working to make an impact.

“There’s people who are hurting. Those people can’t change things by themselves,” Snead said. “So it takes a piece of power like we have here for action to make sure that that’s accomplished.”

The organization’s name stands for “Building A United Interfaith Lexington Through Direct Action.” Snead says these issues in her community are only getting worse. 

“Well, we know that when the pandemic hit, what was already bad for folks has gotten magnified because of the pandemic. And so we just see it even more so in our communities where people are in need,” Snead said.

The three issues Tuesday night’s event focused on were mental health care, violent crimes and affordable housing. Backed by years of research, Snead says they hope to bring new ideas to city officials.

“Group Violence Intervention is a strategy that was developed by the National Network for safe communities in New York under the John Jay College for justice and it’s working in over 80 cities across the United States,” Snead said.

Church members like James Perry said taking a stand in these issues is their mission as a congregation. 

“It’s our mission that God tells us we have to fulfill as Christians,” Perry said.

Snead says these three issues are just the beginning of changes they need to see in Lexington and hopes to work alongside city officials to help those in need. 

Besides the three issues discussed on Tuesday, BUILD has affected many areas within the city, such as drug court, providing health care for the uninsured and improving public transportation.