Image above: Memphis Allies staff presenting at Youth Villages Employee Conference 2025

Youth Villages employees hear from Memphis Allies participants

A professional overview of Memphis Allies and its goal of reducing gun violence comes with slides, statistics, graphs and a few words from the leadership team.

Some Youth Villages employees attending the Memphis Allies panel discussion at the recent employee conference got to hear and see all of that. But as Memphis Allies Executive Director Susan Deason said at the start of the session: “Until people hear from the frontline staff and the participants, it doesn’t really hit home.”

On this day, it hit home several ways.

It was hearing participant “Dez” say, “I ain’t but 18, but I’ve been through a lot of stuff.”

It was hearing 22-year-old “Rondale” casually say he was shot twice in one week; that elicited a gasp from someone in the audience.

It was hearing frontline staff talk about the dangers of the job, but also their passion for this life-saving work. Many staff members came from the streets, were active in gangs and spent time in prison.

No one understands the cost/benefit ratio of living a violent life like they do.

“I’ve been on both ends of the gun,” said Antonio Dowdy, an outreach specialist who was incarcerated for 14 years and is now skilled at intervening in potential deadly conflicts.

‘Relentless engagement’ required

The statistic driving the violence: on average, one shooting leads to four more because of retaliation.

But since Memphis Allies first started going into neighborhoods and apartment complexes in the spring of 2022, 91% of SWITCH and SWITCH Youth participants have not picked up a new gun charge while in programming. That success rate is promising and provides evidence of the work’s effectiveness. Yet, it is also true it takes time for participants to move away from an in-the-streets lifestyle. For many, this is not an immediate, clean break.

“Youth are going to slip up,” said Briant Kelly, a SWITCH Youth life coach. “But the thing is, what can they do to make themselves better? It takes relentless engagement.”

SWITCH and SWITCH Youth programming provide ample resources. This includes clinical therapy, plus case managers and educational/vocational coordinators to help with everything from obtaining a birth certificate or driver’s license to getting enrolled in school or finding a job.

Even so, there is the challenge of the participant’s day-to-day, hour-to-hour environment — be that around their own family or a surrogate family, i.e., a gang.

“It’s really hard to do what’s right when you’re around nothing but wrong,” Rondale said. “It takes a lot to step up and be the voice of your group.”

Memphis Allies’ teamwork is vital

Participants such as Dez and Rondale, however, are finding their voices. They have committed to making changes, and they are even speaking about it to their peers.

“It will have a good impact on kids that look up to us,” Rondale said.

One key to making a lasting impact: the coordinated teamwork of Memphis Allies’ staff and partner organizations.

“A clinical specialist knows something I don’t know, just like I know something a clinical specialist doesn’t know,” Kelly said.

“I meet them where they are,” added Jennifer Davis, a clinical specialist. “Therapy isn’t about having a weakness; it’s how can they learn about something (such as processing trauma), so it’s a strength.”

The journey through SWITCH or SWITCH Youth programming typically lasts 12 to 18 months. It has the potential to be life-changing not just for participants, but also for their families. The impact can be generational.

Dez, at only 18, is still on this journey, but he is already amazed at the changes in his life.

“Sometimes, you don’t know how far you came,” he said, smiling, “until you’re looking back.”

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