As part of a gun violence prevention roadmap that Mayor Tim Kelly released in July, the Chattanooga City Council has entered a $250,000, one-year contract with a consultant, Trajectory Changing Solutions, to help devise and roll out a violence intervention strategy.
The vote comes several months after two consecutive weekend shootings in May and June left three people dead and 20 injured in Chattanooga. The incidents brought renewed attention to the threat of gun violence in the community, which city officials have said they are treating as a public health crisis.
Violence intervention initiatives interrupt cycles of gun violence by directly reaching people at the “highest and most immediate risk and providing them with intensive support, services and opportunities,” according to the roadmap.