Image above: Melvyn Hayward, senior director of Gang Reduction and Youth Development for the City of Los Angeles

Breakthrough 2025: Building hope amid the challenges

Community violence intervention (CVI) is essential to making Memphis and other American cities safer. But it also provides a pathway for redirecting those lives most at risk due to gun violence.

Recently, Memphis Allies and its co-hosts presented the Third Annual Breakthrough Conference, which brought together many community organizations and stakeholders invested in reducing gun violence locally and nationally.

This year’s conference theme: “Amplifying local heroes and communities.” The goal: sharing best practices and gaining more support for CVI work so it can be recognized as the lifesaving and restorative passion profession that it is.

Key local leadership was present as Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris and Memphis Mayor Paul Young spoke briefly at the conference’s start. Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy attended the second day of Breakthrough.

Conference co-hosts included: Neighborhood Christian Centers, Inc.; I Shall Not Die But Live!; Lifeline to Success; BLOC Squad; Heal 901; LeBonheur Children’s Hospital; University of Tennessee Health Science Center; Joint Office of Neighborhood Safety & Engagement; and the Shelby County Division of Community Services.

“The work we do is centered in partnership,” said Susan Deason, executive director of Memphis Allies. “We need more partners at the table.”

Reaching hard-to-reach places

Melvyn Hayward has been seated at the head of this table for a long time. Decades ago, he lived a directionless street life. Today, he is senior director of Gang Reduction and Youth Development for the City of Los Angeles. Most previously, he was chief program officer at Chicago CRED.

In those cities and others, Hayward has witnessed the same truth: the necessity of outreach workers and life coaches connecting with the people at the highest risk for gun violence.

“The only way we get to a point where we’re talking about real transformation is by affecting those who are drivers of violence,” Hayward said in his keynote address. “You will never reduce violence in any city without dealing with those who are picking up those weapons.”

Also significant: 95% of prison inmates will eventually return to the community, a fact that Jennifer Brinkman, director of the Office of Criminal Justice Programs for the State of Tennessee, highlighted in her remarks.

So, all the more reason for CVI. Since launching in Raleigh/Frayser in the spring of 2022, 91% of participants in Memphis Allies’ SWITCH/SWITCH Youth programming have not picked up a new gun charge while in services. It is evidence that the acronym SWITCH is living up to its name, Support with Intention to Create Hope.

Jamie is a SWITCH participant who was formerly gang-involved and now has a job and is working toward becoming a manager. He has found heart-to-heart conversations with his life coach, and SWITCH’s one-on-one and group clinical therapy sessions, to be invaluable.

“Everything is mental,” Jamie said of emotions influencing decisions, and decisions leading to actions. “The mind tells the body everything… so I express myself about everything.”

Hard work worth doing

Memphis is not like Chicago or Los Angeles. Memphis is smaller — “kinfolk corner” — and further complicated by having a gang structure marked by dangerous and fluid fragmentations.

Several weeks ago, there was a drive-by shooting at one of Memphis Allies’ sites, and tragically, 22-year-old participant Matthew Williams who was trying to change his life, lost his life. Other participants were injured, and one staff member was hit by a bullet. The incident serves as a reminder that gun violence can happen anytime, anywhere.

Frontline staff, even those with well-established LTO (license to operate) in specific neighborhood, must exercise caution.

“Don’t overestimate your LTO in a given situation,” advised Fernando Rejon, a long-time CVI expert and the executive director of the Urban Peace Institute.

Carl Davis, managing director of operations for Memphis Allies, emphasized the need for continuing education: both when viewing things strategically from 30,000 feet, but especially on the ground and in the moment.

“Your driver’s license expires and your license to operate (LTO) expires,” Davis said. “You can’t use a 1998 solution on a 2025 problem.”

As for Jamie, what he needed were positive, instructive relationships to reinforce the vision that a better life was attainable.

“Everybody here is like family, that’s what attracted me,” he said of Memphis Allies’ frontline staff. “Nobody treats their job like a job.”

Frontline heroes recognized at Breakthrough, and the presenting organization

Heal 901: Dedrick Chism

“I Shall Not Die but Live!”: Marlon Stewart

UT Health Sciences Center: Lolitha Barbee

LeBonheur Children’s Hospital: Lydia Walker

Shelby County Division of Community Services: Mireya Cortez

901 BLOC Squad: James Ayers

Memphis Allies: Whitney Williams

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