KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — After months of efforts to reduce gun violence in Knoxville, city leaders said they were scaling back their contract with a nonprofit that works to prevent violence in Black communities.
Officials said Thursday they were revamping and scaling back their contract with Cities United. Instead, leaders said they would invest more money in city staff to prevent violence. They also said they would hire a leadership position dedicated to coordinating violence prevention efforts in Knoxville.
Kristin Farley, the city's director of communications, released a statement about the decision on Thursday. It can be read in full below:
In an effort to avoid further delay in implementing strategies to address violence in our city, the City of Knoxville has decided to invest more directly in City staff capacity to lead this conversation in our community.
Cities United is and will continue to be a valued partner, but we are revamping and scaling back our contract. We will be adding a top-level leadership position at the City to coordinate this critical work here in Knoxville.
Work with Cities United began in April as the city started spending $1 million to address gun violence issues. The city paid $75,000 to bring Cities United to Knoxville and intervene on the problem, preventing violence in the long term.
Leaders of the nonprofit said they should start by building a shared language about violence reduction between leaders and the community. After that, they suggested identifying areas where violence reduction was needed most.
The organization has intervened in more than 130 cities. A Knoxville native, Andre Canty, helped spearhead efforts to prevent violence.