Image above: Brittney Ragin, Renardo Baker, Machelle Pugh, Eric Watkins and Jeffrey Futrell as a panel for Memphis Allies Breakthrough Conference 2025

This line of work chooses you, you don’t choose it

For Memphis Allies and partner organizations, the work to reduce gun violence isn’t just a job; it isn’t just clocking in 9 to 5, it’s a 24/7 commitment.

“It’s a calling for me,” said Eric Watkins, founder of Red Door Urban Missions. “God called me to this.”

At Breakthrough 2025, Memphis Allies presented a community conversations panel moderated by Brittney Ragin, director of clinical programs. In this discussion, panelists shared their firsthand experiences working in community violence intervention. They offered insights into the daily struggles and triumphs of their work.

The panel included implementing partners Watkins and Renardo Baker, founder of I Shall Not Die But Live!. Community partners Machelle Pugh, founder of Christopher A. Pugh II Center, and Jeffrey Futrell, founder of Young Man University, also shared their experiences.

“I have the privilege of getting to work with each one of these leaders every week,” Ragin said. “I can attest to their passion, and they are here for our city, specifically working with those most at-risk of gun violence.”

“Don’t give a blind eye to what’s going on down the street,” said Baker, who has been working in the Orange Mound community for over 15 years. “See the young men and women and have relationships within the community. It is the only way.”

Frontline workers see community violence every day. Pugh lost her son to gun violence in 2019 and created the Christopher A. Pugh II center in his name. She, like the other panelists, is determined to use her personal experiences to foster a positive future for those most at-risk.

“We can be so quick to judge young people,” Machelle Pugh said. “We can be so reluctant to stand back and connect with them where they are. These young people are going through trauma. They are working with what they got.”

These organizations are determined to continue finding new ways to engage young men and women and understand that now, more than ever, those working in CVI must continue to push forward.

“Waking up to do this work is an honor – it’s humbling, and it’s exhausting,” Ragin said.

Futrell, through Young Man University, aims to help each young person with his individual goals, understanding each is in his own place emotionally.

“We find not only the solutions but also the compassion.”

To learn more about the work being done in our community to curb community violence, view our 2024 progress report here.

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