SWITCH Youth Posts

Memphis Allies’ Carl Davis receives HBCU Empowerment Award. By his own admission, proud Craigmont High School graduate Carl Davis went to Tennessee State University because he had friends going there.

Step-by-step, SWITCH participant finding the light For decades, Gary was in hiding. He just didn’t know it. “Growing up, I created the mask,” he said. “Be the tough guy to exist in society.”

‘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.

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.

For Terranze Sharp, the first critical moment arrived at age 15. He grew up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and was a member of the Gangster Disciples. One day, he found himself facing a choice: What should he do about this grown man who appeared ready to hurt, or even kill, his friend and fellow gang member?

Awareness knows no bounds. So, it does not matter that in the Memphis neighborhoods with the most gun violence, pick-up basketball games are far more common than impromptu soccer matches.

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...