Founder Tim Jones ‘knows how to reach the streets’. The first time Carl Davis saw him, Tim Jones was on stage at a Holy Hip-Hop event in North Memphis.
“Giving his testimony, being relatable to the crowd,” said Davis, who is Memphis Allies Operations Director. “He was rapping, telling a real story, just without the cursing. He was giving the glory to God.”
When TCion Cason was a combat medic, his commander had three words for Army troops as they entered a new area of Afghanistan where the locals did not know them.
CASE MANAGER ALEJANDRO SALINAS ‘GOES THE EXTRA MILE’
Memphis Allies Case Manager Alejandro Salinas sees it all the time: trauma that impacts decision-making.
Change will require the ’collective us,’ Mayor Young says
Jevonte Porter, Memphis Allies’ community relations director, was pushing a stroller at the Ninth Annual Walk Against Gun Violence in Orange Mound. Porter’s passengers in that stroller were precious to him: 2-year-old Jevonte Jr., and 3-year-old daughter Madison.
Partners Spotlight: TWINS founders Brandon and Bryan Mathis. Brandon and Bryan are key Memphis Allies partners in the fight to reduce gun violence through their own nonprofit organization, TWINS: Together We Impact Neighborhoods and Nations.
Life coach Briant Kelly, also known as B Radical, has a routine with the guys he works with in Memphis Allies’ SWITCH program: he calls them first thing in the morning and again before they go to bed at night.
As Memphis Allies moves into its third year of providing direct services to those most at risk for gun violence, Executive Director Susan Deason has announced two staff promotions
Aviance Brown-Austin was born to a 15-year-old mother, and partially raised by a youngish grandmother. “Technically, I raised myself,” she said. “Along with the streets.”
The danger of being on the front lines is never just immediate. Sometimes, it’s the collateral damage that hits home.
This is true for combat veterans – many of whom suffer from post-traumatic stress syndrome (PTSD), for law enforcement, for firefighters and correctional workers and, yes, for those working in community violence intervention (CVI).
Memphis Allies: A `peacekeeping’ mission in progress. Recently, Antonio Dowdy’s phone rang in the middle of the night. Dowdy, as a Memphis Allies outreach specialist, works to establish relationships with young people most at risk for gun violence.