Tallahassee City Commissioners will hold workshop to 'hash out' gun violence spending

Tallahassee City commissioners unanimously voted to hold a public workshop on Oct. 12 to further examine ways to spend $1 million to curb gun violence in the capital city.

The decision reached at a commission meeting Wednesday was the latest in a series of developments that began in April when commissioners pledged $5 million over a five-year period for "evidence based programs to prevent and interrupt gun violence."

The workshop vote came after a presentation by city staff explored successful programs in other cities and surveyed Tallahassee's current efforts to combat rising gun violence rates. It was followed by public comment in which local residents and community leaders provided their suggestions and opposed others.

Background:Plans for $1 million to combat Tallahassee shootings take shape in mayor's home, churches

More:Tallahassee officials on the hot seat as gun violence, affordable housing assembly draws 600

A central topic was the Group Violence Intervention (GVI) program that "minimizes harm to communities by replacing enforcement with deterrence."

GVI is heavily supported by the Capital Area Justice Ministry, whose members say they landed on the program implemented in other cities like New Orleans — where it resulted in a reduction in homicides and shootings — after months of research.

"Let's adopt a framework that will ... stitch all of these together as local players, schools, police and a faith community in a fabric that focuses on saving these young people's lives," said Claudia Blackburn, a member of CAJM's gun violence committee. "We just want you to adopt GVI so we can stop the bleeding now."

Other speakers asked that the money go to fund local programs that are already seeing results.

Michael McBride — who recently attended a controversial invite-only meeting at Mayor John Dailey's house as the president of the Florida Restorative Justice Association — said he'd like to see Tallahassee's grassroots organizations funded instead of adopting a model from elsewhere.

Inside the restorative justice movement:Conor McBride lives with regret, searches for redemption

"These grassroots organizations are the practitioners, the doers, the boots on the ground already making a difference in Tallahassee," he said. "We do not need a model from another city in hopes that we can plug and play it into Tallahassee. Leverage what we already have."

City Commissioner Jack Porter made the motion for a workshop that "takes a deep dive into GVI but also how we can incorporate other community groups into that process."

"I think that this is a great day," Dailey said before seconding the motion. "All five of us are on the same page that we need to have further conversations in a workshop atmosphere where we can really, truly hash this out."

The meeting was held in the same 12-hour span in which two women were injured in separate shootings — a continuation of the gun violence problem that's been disproportionately affecting young Black teens in Tallahassee's poorest areas for more than a decade.

Just after midnight Wednesday, a woman was shot at an apartment complex while a suspect robbed her. Then just before 7:30 p.m. a woman was seriously injured after she was struck by gunfire as the passenger of a moving car.

Gun violence in the news:Woman injured after car is shot in northwest Tallahassee. It's the 2nd shooting in 12 hours

There have been at least 89 serious shootings in Tallahassee and the county this year, resulting in at least 63 injuries and 15 deaths, according to an analysis of gun violence by the Tallahassee Democrat.

We want to hear from you! With $1 million on the table, what approach do you think could curb gun violence in Tallahassee? Send your thoughts or comments to news@tallahassee.com. Please limit responses to 200 words or less and include your name. Responses may be published in the Tallahassee Democrat.

Contact Christopher Cann at ccann@tallahassee.com and follow @ChrisCannFL on Twitter.

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