Fort Worth police partner with United Way of Tarrant County on new safety initiative
FORT WORTH, Texas (CBSDFW.COM) - Fort Worth Police Chief Neil Noakes has unveiled his new strategy on combating violent crime in the city with a new initiative called 'One Second Collaborative.' This involves a partnership with the United Way of Tarrant County, and the goal is to reduce violence crime in targeted communities using community-based organizations.
"A lot of the violence we are seeing across the county and unfortunately what we're seeing across fort worth and Tarrant County right now involves a lot of unaddressed trauma," said Noakes, addressing council.
Noakes said this program has a 20-year proven track record in different communities across the country.
"It's a collaboration of like-minded people who understand that a one-second decision can literally be a difference between life and death," added Noakes.
To help implement this, the United Way of Tarrant County will take the lead.
"We truly are helping young people in particular move from those split second decisions that they may live to regret for the rest of their lives, if they get to live," said Leah King, CEO of the United Way of Tarrant County.
There's a five step strategy in implementing this program:
- Community mobilization
- Opportunities provision, working with workforce employment systems
- Social intervention, which would be outreach services
- Suppression, such as community policing
- Organization change and development
"It's not us going into the community telling them what they need, it's working with the community to find out what they want to do," added Noakes.
A steering committee will oversee this collaboration.
The price tag on this program is around $6.5 million — those funds coming from the American Rescue Plan Act.
"We know that in order to get this done, it's going to literally take every institution within the community to come together," said King.