NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — A North Nashville neighborhood is said to have the highest incarceration rate in the entire country.
Saturday afternoon, community leaders and North Nashville residents gathered at McGruder Family Resource Center to take a good, hard look at the neighborhood known as "37208." The zip code has the highest percentage of incarceration in the country, according to reports from the Brookings Institution.
Leaders like Metro council member Brandon Taylor want to find solutions.
"We need to have economic development, that's one of the first places to start, bring jobs to this area or at least closer to this area," Taylor said.
For the last few months, a special Metro Council Committee has been tackling the issue. Now they are involving members of the community to get more input.
Topics discussed included the need for affordable housing and youth development as well as improvements in education.
"We have some of least performing schools in this area," said Taylor.
Participants recognize it's going to take a village to bring about change to the area, but they're hopeful together, they can change the narrative surrounding North Nashville.
"I want people to know there are people here," said North Nashville resident M. Simone Boyd, "There are families living and loving, working and thriving every day here." and have to get
The 37208 committee is submitting their report to the city on January 31st. They plan to continue holding a number of public hearings in the near future.
