They came from churches and civic leagues, government agencies and community service organizations.

But one thing shared by the 60 or so people attending a meeting in a conference room at Suffolk’s Health and Human Services Building on Thursday night was a desire not just to talk about change, but to find a way to make it happen.

Leaders of various organizations throughout the city gathered with individual citizens under the leadership of the Suffolk-Nansemond NAACP chapter, Suffolk Tomorrow and the city’s Office on Youth to figure a way to pool their talents and resources to fight violent crime among the city’s youth.

In the end, they decided almost unanimously to form a coalition united against youth violence.

“You actually created some history at this meeting,” said Bob Stephens, who facilitated the meeting on behalf of Suffolk Tomorrow.

But it wasn’t history that had brought the people together; it was current events. Three young people from Suffolk have been murdered locally since January, and the NAACP, led by its Youth Council, organized a meeting earlier this month to try to get citizens involved in finding a solution for the growing problem of youth violence.

“These issues affect all of us, whether we live in Chuckatuck, whether we live in Whaleyville, whether we live in Holy Neck or downtown,” Stephens said in his opening remarks.

In fact, NAACP President Charles Gates added, “It’s not just a Suffolk problem, it’s a nationwide problem. Everyone has to come together and work as one, and we can make a difference.

Stephens led a presentation on the idea of creating a community action coalition, which would serve as “an alliance of local groups who share a desire to create positive change in the community.”

By joining their efforts, Suffolk’s many civic, faith-based, neighborhood and government organizations would be more likely to identify potential solutions to the problems of teen violence and crime and would be more likely to share those solutions around the city, Stephens said.

Jennifer Branham, the youth coordinator for the city’s Office on Youth, pointed out that Suffolk actually has a large number of programs for youngsters and teenagers.

One problem, she said, is that not all youth know about the programs. Another is that parents haven’t always been generous with their support.

“We need parents to get on board with what we’re doing,” she said.

Roosevelt Jones of the Chuckatuck-Oakland Civic League agreed with that sentiment.

“We need to get children trained at home,” he said. “We are not controlling our children. We need to get more men involved.”

Jones said there should be more fatherhood and male mentoring programs available to boys in Suffolk.

Since the purpose of Thursday’s meeting was merely to decide whether to pursue forming a coalition, those attending did not vote to start or endorse any particular programs.

Stephens said he would call another meeting after Labor Day for participants to set up an organizational structure and for members to begin getting to know one another and sharing ideas.