Newburgh Mayor Judy Kennedy has new ideas to help curb violence in the city after returning from a conference focused on preventing youth violence. Elaina Athans has more.

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NEWBURGH, N.Y. -- After returning from a conference focused on preventing youth violence, Newburgh Mayor Judy Kennedy has new ideas to help curb violence in the city.

Kennedy went down to Washington, D.C. to attend a conference regarding youth violence. Newburgh was one of six cities in the entire country that attended this meeting, as it was invitation only.

The U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, department of justice and other federal agencies hosted the meeting.

Kennedy, who is newly elected, says in order to curb youth violence there needs to be more entertainment options for kids, as well as jobs.

"One of the great quotes at the conference was there's nothing like a job to stop a bullet. We need to find those jobs and we need get very creative about how we're going to do that," Kennedy said.

Kennedy returns from her trip after seeing weeks worth of rallies outside her office.

Some community members are even calling for her resignation, all in the wake of the police involved shooting that killed Michael Lembhard. One Newburgh resident said the community is taking action on their own to curb youth violence by creating a neighborhood watch group.

"She's not really willing to listen to us. She's writing us off and she's making excuses. We're working on new policies, solving this ourselves. She didn't have to go to Washington, D.C.,” Regina Lewis said.

Kennedy is now looking into grant opportunities, which will hopefully allow for her to bring new programs to Newburgh.