Nearly two years after promising grassroots violence reduction, the mayor’s office is touting a program to fund Nashville community groups

Mayor John Cooper’s office is touting a program that funds community groups working on crime prevention, job training, childcare and more. The goal is to improve public safety by having trusted community members work together on the underlying causes of crime.

It stems from Cooper’s promise nearly two years ago to support grassroots violence reduction efforts, following the murder of George Floyd.

Wednesday, a mix of politicians and residents gathered in the gymnasium of the Napier recreation center for the first public meeting of The Village. It’s an incubation program, headed by the city’s community safety coordinator, Ron Johnson, that connects community members who are bolstering public safety to city grants.

Members of The Village first started meeting in July of last year. Johnson says he has connected with more than 190 organizations since then.

“These are heavy issues,” Mayor John Cooper says. “Domestic violence, reentry, food, housing, addiction. It’s going to take all 190 organizations to make progress.”

Jameka Usher is a resident in Sudekum Apartments and works in restorative justice. She says she’s glad the city is paying community members like her who are already helping their neighbors.

“I never thought that I could get paid for doing something that I do in my community anyway,” she says. “It takes a village. And it’s not just the residents. It’s not just the nonprofits. It’s just not the organizations. It’s not just the churches and not just the politicians. We need all hands on deck.”

Cooper has been promising direct support for community groups since 2020, when Nashville experienced a summer of protests over police brutality and the departure of the city’s long-time police chief, Steve Anderson. Cooper said the next chief would be required to build trust and put forward a plan to reduce use of force.

More: Nashville Mayor Releases Policing Policy Commission Report, Setting Blueprint For Next Chief

But not everyone has been happy with how the mayor’s office has been distributing funding. Last year, some groups complained that the $5,000 awards they received was too little to make a difference.

“$5000 — time I paid for one kid to even get in a program, pay for printing, my ink, my gas, the rent on a building that I’m trying to rent, I’m done,” said Clemmie Greenlee, the founder of Nashville Peacemakers, whic runs a support group for moms who lost children to gun violence. “I’m done, and it ain’t even January the first yet.”

More: Nashville is doling out $5,000 to groups to curb community violence. Some say it’s far too little.

Initial expectations were that a large portion of the money would go to “violence interruption” programs that place teams of people in neighborhoods and tasks them with heading off violence. But support for that idea has eroded since a series of stories questioned the success of one especially prominent group, Gideon’s Army. The organization has maintained that its philosophy and tactics have been misunderstood.

More: Nashville is about to invest about $2M in a community-based public safety program. But some anti-violence groups say that’s not enough.

Still, Johnson says he’s helped distribute more than $900,000 in grants from the city’s Community Safety Partnership Fund, and he’s looking for more groups to give community safety grants to.

The Village is also accepting more members who want to learn about starting non-profits, and applying for grants.

WPLN’s Chas Sisk contributed to this report.