A vote on $33.7 million in funding for violence intervention programs will have to wait another week, after members of the Memphis City Council Public Safety & Homeland Security Committee found the initial presentation lacking on Tuesday, Nov. 26.
The amendment is the second installment on a $39 million grant award program from State of Tennessee Office of Criminal Justice Programs. It would target communities in nine hot spot zip codes in Memphis.
The first portion – $5.8 million – was awarded to the Memphis Police Department in 2023, to develop a project proposal for a Violent Crime Prevention program.
However, a deep dive, loaded with district-by-district breakdowns was expected. Selected organizations and their various strategies were also anticipated. They weren’t delivered.
“I’m thinking all of that is done as phase one, now you’re ready to begin and launch…what does that look like, with that $33 million?” pondered Councilwoman Rhonda Logan. “These are the entities. This is what they’re tasked with. How they’re going to use this money. How you’re going to measure it? What are you expecting to come out of it, in terms of deliverables?”
Memphis Interim Police Chief Cerelyn “CJ” Davis apologized for the lack of information. Many of the affected organizations are still awaiting notification. Details were to follow.
“I’m co-signing on the $5.8 million and everything they did and what it’s going to do. But right now, I’m not seeing any of that, just signing off on $33 million,” Logan replied. “I would really like to see something comprehensive.”
Logan’s request to move a first vote to Dec. 3 met no objections. However, neither did the broad framework provided by the administration and the Memphis Police Department.
The program would be based on four key strategies. They include prevention and intervention, enforcement, violent offender intervention and victim services outreach. Together, they would receive more than $20 million of the funding.
Nearly two-thirds of the money would be earmarked for intervention. Forty-percent would directly impact youth. All models under consideration are required by state law to be proven effective.
Recipients would also be required to have five years experience in delivering evidence-based intervention programs, or services. Data and regular monitoring would also be required to ensure compliance with state guidelines.
“We really want to make sure we are working to creating a collaborative community ecosystem of supportive services that work directly to mitigate violent crime with a holistic approach,” said Kelli Walton, Violent Crime Intervention Fund Director.
The first portion of funding was devoted to outlining the scope, strategic planning and evaluation measures for various intervention programs. Research partner UT Health Science Center was chosen for the study.
“All of that allocation is not completely spent, but we need to appropriate the additional so we can begin actively engaging with our research partner, as well as being able to fund our recipients who were rewarded,” said Walton.
Once flush, organizations in the “hot spot” ZIP codes will work with the MDP on strategies specific to the community’s problems. The designated ZIP codes are:
- 38103 – Crump, Airways, and N. Main
- 38109 – Raines
- 38111 – Airways
- 38114 – Tillman & Airways
- 38115 – Mt. Moriah & Ridgeway
- 38116 – Raines
- 38127 – Austin Peay
- 39128 – Austin Peay
They were chosen by the Office of Criminal Justice Programs, after five years of analysis on violent crime statistics focused squarely on postal codes. They represent the communities with the ten worst violent crime rates in the state.
The other is in Nashville.
After the first round of funding was secured, the state required the VCIF to conduct listening sessions with residents in the affected codes. The responses helped form the yet-to-be seen proposal.
In 2024, Memphis’ overall crime rate has dropped nearly 14% from last year. However, according to the Memphis Shelby County Crime Commission statistics, the violent crime rate has only fallen by two percent.
