Memphis Fast Forward highlights Safeways: 3,353 Apartment Units Safer Thanks to Safeways, Inc.

Apartment communities can become criminal hotbeds right before residents’ eyes, with activities ranging from drug trafficking to aggravated assaults and gun violence. Thanks to Safeways — a flagship initiative of Operation: Safe Community — that tide is turning at 15 local apartment communities representing 3,353 units.

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The Commercial Appeal editorial cites Safeways as important to a safer community

With news reports on Monday outlining a particularly bloody weekend in Memphis, a lot of Shelby County residents would be hard pressed to believe progress is being made on crime reduction.

But thanks to a seven-year-old collaborative effort by city, county, state and federal officials, along with the private sector, crime rates have dropped.

Read the article at commercialappeal.com

Safe in Memphis: Crime maps add context, perspective

I asked Dr. Richard Janikowski whether crime in Memphis is concentrated or pervasive. He began to tell me, then he pulled out a map. “Let me show you,” the retiring University of Memphis criminologist said as he handed me a color-coded map of reported aggravated assaults (non-domestic) in Shelby County from January-August 2012.

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Safeways director wins FBI award

Safeways Executive Director Julaine Harris was honored at the national headquarters of the Federal Bureau of Investigations as a recipient of the 2012 Director’s Community Leadership Award, given to community leaders from around the country for their local work.

The FBI said, “In Memphis, Julaine Harris, while working for corporate and nonprofit organizations, has spent years advocating programs that focus on reducing gang activities, protecting children from domestic violence, and providing affordable housing for low-income families.”

She, and the other nearly 60 recipients, were nominated by local FBI field offices. FBLI Director Robert Mueller presented the awards in a ceremony in Washington, D.C. earlier this Spring. As he noted, the awardees come from different background, different professional fields, and different parts of the country, and the issues they choose to focus on vary greatly.

To view photos from the awards ceremony: http://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2013/april/directors-community-leadership-awards