Hundreds of people rallied in Hempstead Sunday, using songs and speeches to call for an end to gang violence.

S.T.R.O.N.G. Youth held the rally, which featured personal accounts from gangsters-turned-students and others. Member Hykiem Coney was scheduled to speak, but was silenced when he was gunned down outside a Uniondale bar last weekend. Participants honored Coney?s memory by sharing his message of hope. Amory Sepulveda, 25, called on politicians to allot more funding for after-school programs. The Uniondale woman is paralyzed from the waist down from a drive-by shooting.

Former gang member Ronnie Howard, 20, says S.T.R.O.N.G. changed his life. Howard now has a job and is going to college. The group says it?s important for other gang members to know they also possess the power to turn their lives around.

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