By Cherri Gregg

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – The Trayvon Martin Save Our Sons and Daughters Conference kicked off Friday at Philadelphia’s City Hall. The goal of the conference is to find solutions to black-on-black crime.

“Money is not power, education is not power; information is power,” says Dick Gregory.

80-year-old civil rights leader Gregory helped launch the three-day conference, which will be focused on strategizing ways to combat the violence that kills thousands of African-Americans each year.

Philadelphia attorney Michael Coard says Martin’s death is a rallying cry.

“We’re going to come up with a proactive plan to make sure there are no more Trayvon Martins,” Coard says.

Organizer Yvette Mitchell says the Martin family and local political and community leaders will attend the conference with the hope of connecting resources and holding those in power more accountable.

“We are going to make some changes. We are going to do something [about] this violence; and our children dying needlessly is going to stop,” Mitchell says.

The conference includes a Town Hall meeting at Zion Baptist church on Friday and events run through Sunday. For more info on times, locations and costs visit: www.icwad-greaterphilacaucus.org