Latest news with #NICJR
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Knoxville hires national group for violence interruption work over nonprofits' objections
The Knoxville City Council approved a new violence interruption contract that will bring in the National Institute of Criminal Justice Reform to lead efforts in the city for up to a year. Council members previously postponed their vote on the contract and asked for a community meeting to hear from groups already doing the work locally. In the end, they went with Mayor Indya Kincannon's plan. The contract will pay NICJR to hire staff in Knoxville and spearhead the efforts that community groups such as Turn Up Knox and Renounce Denounce have undertaken: connecting those at-risk for gun violence with the resources they need to break the cycle. Knoxville has been without a major city-funded violence interruption program since officials terminated Turn Up Knox's contract in early 2025. "Approving this will help us get violence interrupters back on the streets," Kincannon said. But council members Amelia Parker, Seema Singh and Charles Thomas ‒ who all voted against the contract ‒ argued the local nonprofits should be the ones getting taxpayer dollars. "We're got people on the ground who have been doing really good work ‒ data shows they've been doing good work," Thomas said. "They're telling us this is not what's needed. I don't know who else would know better than them." NICJR is a national violence reduction organization from California that has been working with Knoxville in other ways for almost two years, providing coaching and training to city staff and local community partners. The new contract adds $519,750 to the existing contract so NICJR will manage community violence intervention programming as well. The total amount the group will be paid is $826,800. NICJR will hire and manage five messengers to serve as life coaches and outreach workers. Community partners could apply for those positions, though Rashaad Woods, director of the community organization Renounce Denounce, cautioned members of existing groups that applying for the jobs could create a conflict of interest. The contract could last up to a year, and city officials said the goal is for a local community partner to replace NICJR. The city could end the contract early if it feels a community partner is ready, Kincannon said April 29. Knoxville cut ties with Turn Up Knox, the nonprofit it recruited in 2022 to connect those at-risk for gun violence, in February after a dispute between executive director Denzel Grant and city officials. The disruption left the future of violence intervention in Knoxville in flux. On April 29, Kincannon's administration proposed a solution: pay the National Institute of Criminal Justice Reform to create a team of local leaders who are already doing violence intervention to replace Turn Up Knox. LaKenya Middlebrook, the director of Knoxville's office of community safety and empowerment, said her team doesn't have the capacity to support Turn up Knox and its work. The contract would take the pressure off that office and allow experts from National Institute of Criminal Justice Reform to fill the gap. Dissenters accused Kincannon of attempting to reinvent the wheel despite local groups' success in violence interruption last year. Other concerns included a lack of financial support for local community partners, outsourcing management to an out-of-state organization, a vague contract itself and hasty approval without a wider community conversation. Allie Feinberg reports on politics for Knox News. Email her: and follow her on X, formerly known as Twitter, @alliefeinberg This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Knoxville hires national group for violence interruption work
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Knoxville City Council approves violence reduction contract with California-based group
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WATE) — Working on lowering violence was a big topic during Tuesday night's Knoxville City Council meeting. With a large crowd looking on, Knoxville City Council voted to extend a contract with the California-based National Institute of Criminal Justice Reform. The proposal passed 6-3. Those in favor of the proposal said the work is important and there needs to be a collaborative effort to continue reducing violent crime in the city. Meanwhile, those against the contract said it could take away from the hard work local organizations have already put in. Knox County Trustee Justin Biggs releases statement amid state investigation 'It didn't have any support for the already existing efforts in the city,' said Rashaad Woods, Tennessee Director of ReNOUNce DeNOUNce Gang Intervention Program. 'Right now, you have organizations that are sacrificing, risking their life to be established in these communities.' The City of Knoxville first entered into a contract with the National Institute of Criminal Justice Reform in 2023. In that time, violent crime in the city has seen a continued downward trend. Terry Walker-Smith has lost two children to violent crime and says there's more to prevention than work in the street. 'I've had some of the training with NICJR, so to further that training for others as well as myself, to be able to help others and right now I do help others,' Walker-Smith said. 'Prevention is more than just on the ground. I've done prevention on a national level in Washington and at the state level.' For Woods, every organization like his has the same end goal but may have different ways to get there. He said their work is crucial for early intervention, while NICJR focuses mainly on ages 20-32. 'You can't just focus on that demographic because you're leaving that youth demographic out,' Woods said. 'Those individuals that are getting caught with guns at 14, 15 and 16, you want to make sure that you interact with them before they actually go out and commit a crime before they get 18 and 19, you don't want to leave them out. By saying that's the best model, you're leaving a gap. You're putting a Band-Aid over the current problem but you're leaving the wound to fester.' Tennessee State Veterinarian issues alert for flesh-eating parasite There was also heavy discussion among councilmembers. Councilwoman Amelia Parker voiced her displeasure with how this all came about. 'I'm very frustrated,' Parker stated. 'In my opinion, based on what we heard last night, this contract is insufficient to address the issues that we need addressing.' Councilwoman Gwen McKenzie said she wants there to be a time where all the organizations can come together to work on their common goal. 'I am going to stay encouraged and prayerful that our local organizations can come back together in that middle ground and have collaborative partnerships,' McKenzie said. 'I'm hopeful that each organization will come back to the table.' The discussion on this topic lasted just over two hours before the vote for approval was made. There were two other votes, one to deny the contract and another to postpone the vote until the next City Council meeting, both failed. ▶ See more top stories on We're told with the approval vote, the NICJR will add six positions in Knoxville. The contract is slated to cost the city $519,750 bringing the total payment to the institute to more than $800,000. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
10-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Learn about Knoxville's controversial violence interruption contract at May 12 meeting
After heated debate at the April 29 Knoxville City Council meeting over the city's plans for its violence interruption efforts, a public meeting on May 12 will invite community discussion of the proposed contract ahead of any vote on it. The disagreement began due to the proposed contract extension between the National Institute of Criminal Justice Reform (NICJR) and the city of Knoxville. After the debate at the last city council meeting, the vote on the contract was postponed for two weeks to allow a chance to discuss it further. Community members, violence interruption groups and councilmembers will have the chance to speak to NICJR representatives, who will share a presentation with the community and answer any questions at the 6-7 p.m. May 12 meeting. Councilmember Gwen McKenzie will lead the discussion for the public violence interruption contract meeting at Logan Temple AME Zion Church, 2744 Selma Ave. The discussion is meant to inform councilmembers before they vote on the contract at 6 p.m. May 13 in the man assembly room of the City-County Building. NICJR is a national community-based violence reduction organization out of California that has been working with Knoxville for almost two years, providing coaching and training to city staff and local community partners. The new contract would go a step further by adding $519,750 to the previous contract to pay NICJR to manage community violence intervention programming in addition to what the previous contracts did. The total price tag is $826,800. NICJR would hire and manage five messengers to serve as life coaches and outreach workers. Community partners could apply for those positions. LaKenya Middlebrook, director of the Office of Community Safety and Empowerment (OCSE), said the contract would reduce the administrative and technical duties handled by the office as work increases and more community partners join the violence interruption efforts. The proposed contract could last up to a year, and city officials said the goal is for a local community partner to replace NICJR. The city could end the contract early if it feels a community partner is ready, Mayor Indya Kincannon said April 29. The resolution drew pushback from violence interruption organization leadership, including Denzel Grant, director of TurnUp Knox, and Rashaad Woods, director of Renounce Denounce, as well as from councilmembers Gwen McKenzie, Amelia Parker, Charles Thomas and Seema Sigh. Some dissenters have accused the city of attempting to reinvent the wheel on violence interruption, despite record success in violence interruption last year. Other concerns include a lack of financial support for local community partners, outsourcing management to an out-of-state organization, vagueness in the contract itself and hasty approval without community discourse. "Like I said, NICJR is definitely needed for their training and technical assistance, we can benefit from those things, but I think you have to have the people doing the work, organizations doing the work, those are the ones that need to be funded and those are the ones that need to be trained and brought to the table to make sure we're putting the work together in a way that the community benefits," Grant told Knox News. In addition, Grant said the contract should specify its terms and goals better. Despite the concerns, Grant looks forward to the May 12 meeting to discuss the contract in more depth so councilmembers, community partners and community members can be more involved. Renounce Denounce has developed a local network that is essential in targeting and contacting at-risk individuals, which only a local organization with boots on the ground can provide, as opposed to an out-of-state entity, according to Woods. "For these local grassroots organizations that are already doing that type of work, there should have been more support written into the contract for that. Now, as far as the administrative piece and the training that they offer, you can never have enough training," Woods told Knox News. If the contract is approved, ideally NICJR would provide administrative assistance and training, while funding would be distributed among local organizations to build workforce capacity for local groups, Woods said. Myron Thompson covers public safety for Knox News. Email: Allie Feinberg reports on politics for Knox News. Email her: and follow her on X, formerly known as Twitter, @alliefeinberg This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Knoxville council, public can learn about violence interruption effort
