TULSA, Okla. — Partners across the city came together to launch 'seCURE Tulsa,' to fight violence in North Tulsa neighborhoods.
What once was known as 'Tulsa's Community Violence Intervention & Prevention Initiative' is putting outreach on the ground, helping young adults deal with conflict.
WATCH: City partners launch 'seCURE Tulsa' to intercept violence in north Tulsa
“We have to be honest about what we are seeing," said Tiffany Crutcher with the Terence Crutcher Foundation. "Violence has spread across our communities in ways that cannot be ignored, and when something spreads like that, we have to treat it differently.”
Crutcher said it's also about looking at the violence as a preventable public health crisis. Meeting people where they are before harm begins, she said, is how they hope to make change.
“This is not just about interruption, it’s about healing," she said. "Many of the individuals we are dealing with are carrying trauma, loss, and years of disconnection. If we do not address that first, the cycle continues.”
It's a targeted approach, focusing on one part of town.
The zone of focus is East Pine and 56th St. North between Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd and Peoria Ave.
Mayor Nichols is making an important distinction that this is about the place, not the people.
“Although we talk about place-based interventions, it’s not a definition," said the mayor. "Doesn’t define the people who live there, it defines the conditions that have been allowed to fester over time.”
BerThaddaeus Bailey with My Brother's Keeper says this area was deliberately chosen because of higher-than-normal crime rates.
"It represented just 3.6% of Tulsa's population, yet it accounts for 16% of firearm assaults and 11% of homicides since the year 2022," he said.
“More than 15,500 residents live in this zone. That means if we get this right, if we get this right, thousands of families could experience safer neighborhoods, stronger support systems, and greater opportunity.”
Outreach workers like Damian Rozell have logged 150 hours in the community with at-risk residents.
Rozell isn't from Tulsa, but he's been in town for about 20 years and cares deeply for the community.
“I applied for the job because of personal desire to be part of the solution," he said.
So far, the outreach team has been to a few of the schools in the area, talking to kids to show them different paths that are available to them. Most recently, Rozell said they visited McClain High School.
"We talked to a group of guys and kind of asked them, 'Well, what do you want to do? And they said, 'Well, we need a job. And I said, 'Well, where do you want to work? And they went to the jobs that they see, 'I want to work at Taco Bell, I want to work at Burger King,' you know all that stuff that we have on Pine and Peoria," said Rozell.
After a little bit of time together, he said their eyes opened to other possibilities.
"It’s not just about the fast food or I know someone who works there, it’s about dreaming big, so we’re just trying to open it up, the sky really is the limit.”
Residents in the zone can be connected to education, workforce training, mental health services, and anything else they need.
“From the very beginning, we have said that safety is the foundation of everything else we hope to achieve," said Bailey. "Because if our young people and their families are not safe, then nothing else matters."
Stay in touch with us anytime, anywhere --
- 2 News Oklahoma on your schedule | Download on your TV, watch for free. How to watch on your streaming device
- Download our free app for Apple, Android and Kindle devices.
- Like us on Facebook
- Follow us on Instagram
- Watch LIVE 24/7 on YouTube
