Eleven Nashvillians (experts in areas ranging from the Metro Council to medicine) have joined Mayor John Cooper’s community safety efforts. The mayor has appointed them to his new Community Safety Partnership Advisory Board.
The group will provide funding recommendations for more than $1.5 million in grants, which Cooper allocated in March to bolster neighborhood groups working to prevent and reduce violence in Nashville.
“Community challenges demand community solutions,” Cooper said. “Our public safety response requires strong partnerships. And we must make real investments in strategies that work best for our neighborhoods.
“I’m grateful to all the Nashvillians who are joining us in a community-driven approach to making our neighborhoods safer.”
The board will work with Ron Johnson, whom the mayor named as Nashville’s first Community Safety Coordinator in March. Johnson, a veteran coalition builder and violence prevention expert, will lead the mayor’s community safety efforts as he collaborates with neighborhood groups and Metro Nashville Police.
“Partnering with, and investing in, the groups working to make our neighborhoods safer was one of the Policing Policy Commission’s most important recommendations,” said Sharon Roberson, president/CEO of YWCA Nashville and co-chair of the mayor’s Policing Policy Commission. Roberson will also lead the Community Safety Partnership Advisory Board.
“I want to thank Mayor Cooper for making a major down payment on our recommendations,” Roberson said.
Mayor Cooper’s Community Safety Partnership Advisory Board
Katina Beard: Matthew Walker Comprehensive Health Center, CEO; Mayor’s Behavioral Health and Wellness Advisory Council, Chair
Christiane Buggs: United Way of Greater Nashville, manager of Literacy Partnerships; Metro Nashville Public School Board of Education, chair
Judge Sheila Calloway: Juvenile Court of Metropolitan Nashville and Davidson County
Jennifer Gamble: Metro Council Public Safety Committee, chair; Nelson PR & Communications, founder/CEO
Deputy Chief Dwayne Greene: Metro Nashville Police Community Services Bureau
Nawzad Hawrami: Salahadeen Center, vice president and founding board member; Mayor’s New American Advisory Council, Public Safety chair
Rev. Dr. Christopher Jackson: Pleasant Green Baptist Church, senior pastor; Interdenominational Ministers Fellowship, president
Dr. Alex Jahangir: Metro Nashville Public Health Board, chair; Vanderbilt Center for Trauma, Burn, and Emergency Surgery, executive medical director; Vanderbilt Department of Orthopedic Surgery, director; Vanderbilt University Medical Center, professor
Andrés Martínez: Metro Community Oversight Board, chair; Conexión Américas, Policy and Communications director
Tom Turner: Nashville Downtown Partnership, president/CEO
