“I’m proud to say I’m from New Iberia,” Emmy nominated actor and voiceover artist Christian Simon said in a published video. “Gun violence has affected our community for far too long.”

The New Iberia native and Disney star’s sentiment is one of many that are published on the City of New Iberia’s website as part of a new anti-violence campaign being conducted by the city.

“No More Silence, Stop Gun Violence” is a campaign that the City of New Iberia is conducting in conjunction with members of the community who are hoping to see an end to the continuing violent crimes in the city.

Mayor Freddie DeCourt said the campaign came about thanks to American Rescue Plan Act Funds, and the idea for a public anti-violence campaign had been in his mind for a long time.

“When we had two murders earlier this year that involved a 14-year-old and a 15-year-old, that was just shocking to me,” DeCourt said. “It’s not just our problem, it’s in every community but I’ve never seen a community do something like this.”

See video here:

With the help of New Iberia City Council members, DeCourt took the idea to members of the community who were highly invested in stopping violent crime in New Iberia. DeCourt said the initial idea was to create a grassroots campaign that would be informed by members of the community.

After a brainstorming session that was held, the slogan for the campaign was decided on as well as a media strategy to highlight successful and influential members of the community who would speak out against the problem.

Along with an aggressive social media campaign, “No More Silence, Stop Gun Violence” is also reaching other media sources such as radio and newspapers, and also being promoted by members of the community with t-shirts and signs placed all over the city.

That is just the first phase of the campaign, however. DeCourt said the second phase will occur in the summer to directly engage kids in New Iberia. In the fall, members of the campaign are hoping to get members from every part of the community to speak out against the problem.

“We have a big mixture of people who are doing this,” DeCourt said. “The response has been great, we’ve got a lot more exciting things coming.”

The video features , NFL wide receiver Diontae Spencer, Police Chief Todd D’Albor, community leaders, elected officials and faith leaders.

Also starring Felton Hogan, Brock Mitchell, Marlon Lewis, Kristi Gregorie, Daesha Hughes, Donovan D. Davis, Brandon Williams, Ryan Antoine, Emmanuel Harding and Cassie Duhon.