Leading the Way Mid-Tour Reflections

October 2025

Overview

The Leading the Way Tour, launched in the spring of 2025, was designed to uplift, amplify, and strengthen jurisdictions that have prioritized comprehensive public safety ecosystems. At each stop, Cities United partners with local leaders, young Black leaders, and community organizations to listen deeply, learn from local expertise, and support strategies that create safer, healthier, and more hopeful communities. The tour is not just a showcase of programs, it is a collaborative process, recognizing that the most effective approaches emerge when those most impacted by violence are placed at the center of decision-making.

As of October 2025, the tour has passed its midpoint, and eleven jurisdictions have shared their efforts, highlighting not only their wins but also the gaps, the heartaches, and the joys of building public safety ecosystems. While each community is distinct in its history, demographics, and political climate, five cross-cutting themes emerged consistently across tour stops—threads that connect each jurisdiction to the next and illuminate the key elements of transformative public safety work.

Building Strong and Sustainable Governance

Jurisdictions consistently emphasized the importance of having an entity that can convene and support the broader ecosystem. This includes offices or structures within city and county governments that ensure that strategies and investments can survive leadership changes or shifts in administration. When these entities actively support community-based organizations, provide technical assistance, and maintain institutional memory, they create a stable foundation for long-term progress. Jurisdictions recognized that governance is not only about policy but also about trust-building, coordination, and the capacity to hold multiple stakeholders accountable to a shared vision.

Creating Real Pathways for Young Leaders

Young leaders are central to the success of public safety ecosystems, yet the level of engagement varies across communities. Some jurisdictions are just beginning to establish young leader programs, while others have moved from basic engagement to fully integrating young adults into leadership roles and decision-making structures. Tour sites highlighted how young people bring fresh perspectives, credibility in their communities, and an urgency for action that can drive innovation and accountability. Creating real pathways requires mentorship, skill-building, access to funding, and inclusion in policy and programmatic discussions so that young leaders are not only consulted but empowered to shape strategies that directly affect their lives.

Centering Survivor and Family Voices

Survivors and families who have been directly impacted by violence provide critical lived experience that must inform the design and implementation of public safety strategies. Jurisdictions acknowledged that survivors not only need support, resources, and healing, but also meaningful opportunities to lead within the ecosystem (from advisory boards to program leadership roles). Centering survivor voices strengthens the legitimacy and effectiveness of interventions, ensures accountability, and challenges systems to move beyond metrics to focus on tangible, compassionate outcomes.

Increasing or Improving Data Capacity

Data (both qualitative and quantitative) was identified as a central tool for measuring success, understanding gaps, and communicating impact. Across tour sites, jurisdictions emphasized the need to improve the collection, analysis, and dissemination of data to tell the story of their public safety work. Data supports funding applications, informs decision-making, and validates innovative approaches to safety. More importantly, when combined with personal narratives and community insights, data can illustrate the full scope of impact, ensuring that strategies are responsive to lived realities rather than purely theoretical outcomes.

Building Narrative Power & Political Will

The ability to tell the story of a jurisdiction’s public safety ecosystem and to build the political will necessary to amplify and sustain it is fundamental to long-term success. Jurisdictions recognized that narratives create opportunities for a shared vision across sectors, align resources, and strengthen public trust. Effective storytelling also elevates the voices of those most impacted, challenges harmful stereotypes, and builds momentum for policy and funding decisions that support holistic, community-centered safety solutions.

Whether it was the Mayor of Memphis engaging directly with a remarkable group of young leaders, survivor-led organizations in Lexington uplifting families and informing strategy, or the powerful city-county collaboration in Milwaukee, each jurisdiction brought unique lessons and innovations to the tour, demonstrating why they truly lead the way.

Looking ahead, Cities United will use post-tour reports and recommendations to provide ongoing coaching and support to each jurisdiction, helping them translate insights from the tour into action. By reinforcing governance, young leaders, survivor engagement, data capacity, and narrative power, these communities are poised to continue building ecosystems that not only reduce violence but also strengthen trust, opportunity, and hope for generations to come.

‍“There’s something about learning next to other Black leaders, from across the country, that makes this work feel less isolated. Cities United made that possible.” — Larry Johnson, One Lexington

TRAVIS COUNTY, TX