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Community group urges Shelby County to pilot Omaha-style 'empowerment network' to align anti-violence efforts
Summary
Memphis Crime Beat told Shelby County commissioners it wants to import an Omaha 'Empowerment Network' model to coordinate nonprofits, police and other stakeholders, improve data quality and reduce crime. The group highlighted preliminary University of Memphis data and urged neutral, long-term measurement.
Leslie Taylor, executive director of Memphis Crime Beat, told the Shelby County Public Safety Ad Hoc Committee that the group is advocating to bring Omaha's long-running "Empowerment Network" model to Memphis to coordinate agencies and nonprofits around shared performance metrics.
"The empowerment network is an overarching strategy with performance goals backed by quality data and a framework which allows stakeholders to plug in and work collaboratively together," Taylor said. She described Omaha partners' results and said local leaders should adopt a similar, data-driven umbrella to avoid duplicative efforts.
Taylor and cofounder Norman Blake said their research found two major local gaps: poor alignment among organizations and low-quality operational data. They urged county officials to rely on neutral third‑party analysis — citing the preliminary University of Memphis report as useful but incomplete because it lacks criminal-court data.
"Let's wait until the final data comes out and then we can talk policy," Taylor said, noting limitations in the draft analysis and recommending follow-up reports every six months while final data are produced.
Commissioners responded positively to the idea, referencing investments already made in juvenile services and community connectors. Chair Charlie Caswell said county-led district connectors and an upcoming District 6 hub rollout could plug into a broader alignment model.
The presentation included specific claims about the Omaha program's results; for example, Taylor recounted that the Omaha network had "decreased gun violence by 70%" and raised "over $1,000,000,000 in public and private investment." She and cofounder Norman Blake framed those figures as a reason to pursue a long-term pilot and stronger local data collection before making policy changes.
Next steps: Crime Beat asked county leaders to continue commissioning neutral analysis, consider piloting the empowerment-network framework in one district and support regular reporting to track trends and outcomes.
