Tulsa’s new mayor wants violence prevention to look beyond law enforcement.
Mayor Monroe Nichols on Thursday afternoon announced the launch of the Tulsa Community-Based Violence Intervention Initiative. It comes from the City and organizations working with the My Brother’s Keeper Alliance that aims to “make safe and supportive communities a reality for all of our nation’s boys and young men of color.”
The program is funded by a $2 million grant from the United States Department of Justice.
“Often times, when we have to call on law enforcement to solve a problem for us, that means we’ve failed a lot of other places as a community,” Nichols said at the Thursday news conference.
City Chief Resilience Officer Krystal Reyes said the initiative will treat violence “as a public health issue.” She said the city and its partners will set up programs like workforce initiatives and mentorships to curb violence before police have to respond to it.
The mayor’s office will work with My Brother’s Keeper’s local facilitators Impact Tulsa, Youth Services of Tulsa and the Terence Crutcher Foundation.
BerThaddeus Bailey, who manages the My Brother’s Keeper initiative locally, said Black Tulsans could especially benefit. Bailey estimated Black men ages 15-34 are 12 times more likely to die by gun violence than their white peers. He also said the homicide rate for Black Tulsans is three times the county average, and five times higher than for white Tulsans.
“We owe our children — the most vulnerable members of our society — a life free of violence and fear,” Bailey said.
Crutcher Foundation President Dr. Tiffany Crutcher said the city has the opportunity to “redefine safety" through the initiative.
“This initiative is about healing,” she said. “It’s about addressing the root causes of violence and equipping our community with the tools to disrupt cycles of harm and build a safer and stronger Tulsa.”