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 had shifted.
They were ready to give back.
With guidance from Jemera Lloyd, the Memphis Allies community relations coordinator serving Raleigh/Frayser, six participants recently staged a successful back-to-school community event. This included giving away about 100 backpacks, teaming up with a local barbershop to provide free haircuts, grilling hot dogs, making snow cones, and serving a crowd of about 250 people.
“Instead of being involved in something negative in the community, they were able to complete something positive in the community,” said Trane Gilliam, a Memphis Allies regional supervisor in Raleigh/Frayser.
Said Lloyd: “They served the crowd and had somebody working the grill. They were very excited, and I was very proud of them.”
SWITCH (Support with Intention to Create Hope) programming is for those most at risk for gun violence, and generally serves people aged 17-35.
Programming has four stages and usually lasts from 12 to 18 months.
Stage 1 emphasizes maintaining engagement with the participant and avoiding potentially dangerous people and situations.
Stage 2 stresses the participant taking increased responsibility for self-management.
Stage 3 focuses on relationships and community connections.
Stage 4 is about making vocational and education connections, although by Stage 3 many participants are employed at least part-time.
The emphasis on community involvement in Stage 3 often begins with cleanup projects, Lloyd says, then graduates to planning a community event. Over time, participants come to know area small business owners, and to better understand the collective work ethic required for a community to be strong and stable.
But putting on a community event also has the advantage of community members getting to see that participants in SWITCH are working to change their lives for the better.
Manuearl Brewer is the owner of the Celebrity Cutz barbershop in Raleigh that provided free haircuts. Brewer, 37, says the youngsters in the neighborhood headed back to school are “like my everything,” but he also appreciates where those adult Memphis Allies participants are in their journey.
“It’s a good thing,” Brewer said of the participants trying to find a safer, more productive, path. “At one point, I didn’t have my life all the way together. So, I can relate.”
Bigger picture, Lloyd has seen how SWITCH programming is expanding the participants’ day-to-day worlds. When she took several of them to a sit-down restaurant, it was almost like a bucket list moment.
“Some of them said they had never been to a restaurant that wasn’t fast food,” she said, adding, “If they take Stage 3 seriously, they will be in position for a great outcome in this program because this is about growth.
“You don’t have to think that old way that you did before.”
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