Tarrant County approves $1.9 million for collaborative to combat teen gun violence
.jpeg "Roughly 101 teens in Tarrant County have died from gun violence since 2016. A program supported by the United Way and Fort Worth city council member Jared Williams aims to change that.")
The Tarrant County commissioners gave their seal of approval Tuesday to a plan aimed at combating teen gun violence.
The One-Second Collaborative, pushed by the United Way of Tarrant County and Fort Worth City Council member Jared Williams, is a proposed partnership to support community groups working to end teen gun violence.
The collaboration will focus on intervention, counseling services, mentoring and community partnerships, Williams said.
It’s contingent upon to city of Fort Worth approving $4.4 million from the roughly $28 million remaining American Rescue Plan Act funding.
Williams called the problem of teen gun violence systemic in a May 25 letter to City Manager David Cooke. He alluded to reporting from the Star-Telegram showing 101 middle- or high-school aged youths dying from gun violence since 2016.
“That’s at least 4-5 classrooms of children we’ve lost,” Williams wrote.
The gun violence collaboration will be set up similar to the Tarrant County Homeless Coalition, Williams said in a separate interview.
The United Way of Tarrant County would be the lead agency organizing the coalition.
“It’s very much in the wheelhouse of the United Way to bring people together, focus on an issue, and working along side each other so we can make sure we’re complimenting each other, not duplicating,” said CEO Leah King.
The funding from the city and the county will get the collaboration started, but Williams and King said it may take as much as $20 million over the next 10 years to fully address the issue.
“Our young people didn’t get this way overnight,” King said.
She acknowledged the impact of the COVID-19 on teens’ mental health, but said communities in Fort Worth most impacted by gun violence were dealing with the problem before the pandemic.
“Those are the things we have to get to the root of, and that takes time and that takes money,” King said.
It’s not clear when the city of Fort Worth will vote on how to allocate its remaining ARPA funding.
The city is evaluating requests adding up to $145.6 million, and several council members urged caution during a June 21 work session noting the rare opportunity to use the one-time federal stimulus.
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