Memphis Allies Posts

Most Recent Memphis Allies Posts

Nothing to Lose

Nothing to Lose

‘These guys have nothing to lose’ is why Memphis Allies’ Tito Porter does what he does A gun, Tito Porter says, is just a means to an end. In fact, at age 19, it enabled Porter to have his own place. “My first apartment on my own was a jail cell,” he said. Porter stayed more than four years. By the time he got out, he had learned money was worthless compared to freedom.

Quincy reaches potential with SWITCH Youth

Quincy reaches potential with SWITCH Youth

Memphis Allies’ SWITCH Youth program is not just trying to reach teenagers who might be prone to finding trouble. Rather, the goal is to reach those most at risk for involvement in gun violence.

Trust is Earned, We’re Earning it

Trust is Earned, We’re Earning it

Trust is earned, and Memphis Allies is earning it In the spring of 2022 in Raleigh/Frayser, Memphis Allies sent its first team of outreach specialists into neighborhoods rife with gun violence. Carl Davis, who is Memphis Allies’ operations director, and Trevon Toney,...
Gun Violence Reduction Effort

Gun Violence Reduction Effort

New city/county office another step in the gun violence reduction effort

Sometimes, collaboration is a synonym for efficiency and effectiveness.

More Memphis Allies Posts

Chance for Change

Chance for Change

SWITCH Youth: Every potential act of gun violence comes with a ‘why?’ Even when a shot has not been fired, the professionals working within Memphis Allies’ SWITCH Youth program understand time is of the essence. Recently, a teenager in the program got into an argument...

SWITCH Hosts Community Event

SWITCH Hosts Community Event

Raleigh/Frayser SWITCH participants put on event for the community Call it a matter of give and take. Before entering Memphis Allies’ programming, many of the participants had been taking from their own communities. But now, as stage 3 SWITCH participants, their focus...

Helping Heal the Hood

Helping Heal the Hood

Heal the Hood to provide ‘pro-social’ programming in support of SWITCH Youth Ladell Beamon’s Heal the Hood Foundation of Memphis, which impacts Memphis youth through the arts, is a new supporting partner of Memphis Allies’ SWITCH Youth program. As part of that...

‘Big Homie’ Partners with Memphis Allies

‘Big Homie’ Partners with Memphis Allies

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...

Meet Team Supervisor TCion

Meet Team Supervisor TCion

Outreach is local – whether in Memphis or Afghanistan 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. “‘Hearts and minds,’ we were there to capture the...

Meet Case Manager Alejandro

Meet Case Manager Alejandro

Case Manager Alejandro Salinas 'goes the extra mile' Memphis Allies Case Manager Alejandro Salinas sees it all the time: trauma that impacts decision-making. The trauma might show up in the form of poverty and gun violence. It might be inspired by a lack of love and...

Community Attends ‘Walk Against Gun Violence’

Community Attends ‘Walk Against Gun Violence’

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:...

TWINS Founders Brandon and Bryan

TWINS Founders Brandon and Bryan

Partners Spotlight: TWINS founders Brandon and Bryan Mathis When Brandon Mathis recalls how he and his twin brother Bryan grew up, he describes gunshots as “normal” and joining a gang at age 10 as like being in a fraternity. “You got a color, a letter, a family, a...

Outreach Never Stops

Outreach Never Stops

Memphis Allies: Interrupting the drumbeat of gun violence 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....