Rev. Eugene Rivers III plans to issue an “appeal and challenge” on Sunday for Black fathers across the country to “engage the question of violence in our communities.”

Rivers will issue the appeal on Father’s Day at 114 Melville Ave in Dorchester at 2:30 p.m.

Rev. Rivers pointed to CDC data that shows homicide rates spiked in 2020 and have “remained higher than before the pandemic.” Rivers said homicide was the third leading cause of death for children and young adults aged 10 to 24 in 2021. The rate, Rivers said, was the highest since 1997.

The FBI, Rivers said, reported more than 8,400 Black homicide victims in 2021 compared to white victims.

“We are appealing to Black fathers across the country to step up, to support Black mothers who are raising their children alone and to work in strategic partnerships with law enforcement to mentor and monitor Black youth,” Rivers said in a statement. “We are appealing to Black men to join this movement to save the lives of our children.”

Crimes in Boston were occurring primarily in four neighborhoods by a small group of people, with primarily Black men harmed, according to Boston police data.

Those neighborhoods were Dorchester, Jamaica Plain, Mattapan, and Roxbury, the data showed. And more than 84% of the city’s homicide victims between 2020 and 2022 were Black.

“We will not tolerate any neighborhood feeling like residents have to live in fear of violence or experience loss that ripples down, generation after generation,” Mayor Michelle Wu said in an April statement alongside the data.

Homicide rates in 2023 have been on the rise, the Boston Police Department previously said.