Shelby County officials outline Joint Office violence-intervention work and warn of federal, state funding cuts

Shelby County and city officials, community violence intervention providers and the Joint Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement discussed efforts to intervene with people at high risk of gun violence and warned that pending federal and state funding cuts could undermine those programs.

The discussion, held during a county committee meeting, focused on the Joint Office’s role in coordinating outreach, the Safer Memphis 365 convening that brings community stakeholders together, the documentation challenges faced by outreach workers and recent notices that several grants may be reduced or canceled.

The Joint Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement “is trying to bring more resources to bear, especially in the area of people that we engage … who are victims of violent crime or may be on the verge of some type of retaliation,” said Mr. Goods, who the committee identified as the city’s public safety advisor. “One of my primary job functions is just to kind of figure that out. How do we more engage our most highest at risk people?”

The meeting included a report on Safer Memphis 365, a countywide series of community convenings intended to pair neighborhood-level voice with data to design local interventions. “Public safety is everyone,” Valerie Matthews, of the Joint Office, said. She described subcommittees focused on topics including gun violence, domestic violence, youth empowerment and neighborhood organizing, and said meetings pair local leaders’ experience with hot-spot data to tailor responses.

Jomontae Porter, director of community relations and external affairs for Memphis Allies, described the vulnerability of outreach staff and the organization’s citywide services. “What we witnessed, what we saw was unprecedented,” Porter said, adding that staff counseling and community support have followed a recent violent incident affecting Memphis Allies’ staff. He outlined the program footprint: adult services (called Switch Adult) support people ages 18–35 in five regions (Whitehaven, Orange Mound, Hickory Hill, East Memphis Parkway Village, Raleigh/Frasier and South Memphis), while Switch Youth serves persons 18 and under citywide.

Speakers emphasized the importance of timely, consistent documentation of outreach interactions so those interventions are captured in data systems used for funding and planning. “Documentation is key,” a Memphis Allies representative said, describing training for outreach workers to record incidents in a client relationship management (CRM) platform.

Officials and providers warned that funding cuts threaten operations. A staff member identified as providing grant support said a grant “in the neighborhood of a million or 1.2” was effectively canceled, and another funding stream of about $400,000 that supports elder-abuse work is “on the chopping block.” Valerie Matthews said she’d circulated information to ecosystem partners about legal assistance and appeals, noting that the Vera Institute had won reconsideration for a $5,000,000 cut though funding had not yet been restored.

County leaders said they plan to escalate the issue. “We’re going to bring a resolution to this body and then send it up to our lobbying bodies at the federal and state level,” Chair Caswell said, urging partners to share details so the county can document local impacts and seek advocacy support.

Commissioners and staff also discussed upstream issues that shape violence patterns, including trauma, family dynamics and the age distribution of those involved in shootings. Panelists noted that violent crime is concentrated among young adults and that domestic violence accounts for a share of aggravated assaults referenced in the meeting. The conversation included historical context: participants recalled higher homicide totals around 2016 and said targeted, locally driven programs helped reduce killings in later years.

The committee set a follow-up meeting for May and discussed reentry supports, including the idea of a “one-stop shop” to help people leaving jail obtain identification and other essentials needed to apply for employment or services.

No formal votes or ordinance actions were recorded during the discussion. The committee asked partners to circulate materials, including a presentation, to commissioners and to continue coordination through the Joint Office.