New ‘Resiliency Hubs’ in North Memphis look to provide wrap-around services for residents
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WMC) – A new, strategic public safety plan unveiled Friday will focus on the North Memphis community.
Shelby County Commissioner Charlie Caswell announced that the county will be working hand-in-hand with selected non-profits that they call “Resiliency Hubs” that offer wrap-around services for its residents.
The primary hubs include the new Pure Academy in North Memphis, The Dwelling Place, and the Embassy of Faith Church.
These hubs will also work with other community organizations in the Raleigh, Nutbush, Frayser and unincorporated Shelby County areas.
One of those non-profits includes the non-profit “The Golden Institute,” which has been working with youth in the community like 20-year-olds Damion Brown and Jerry Lee.
The two have come a long way since they were first introduced to the Golden Institute in Raleigh as high schoolers.
“All I knew was being in the house and playing the game,” said Lee.
The non-profit pays kids to learn a trade. It’s a three-part program that starts with awareness, apprenticeship, and finally, entrepreneurship.
Lee and Brown now own their own landscaping business. They thank the program for giving them a new skill.
“It started off easy, picking up leaves, cleaning up, then you start to level up,” said Brown.
The founder of the non-profit, Charlie Golden, also offers deeply-discounted schools for barbering, natural hair and nails.
Friday morning, his efforts are getting a little more support.
Commissioner Caswell announced an initial county investment of $600,000 to help fund nine different organizations in the community.
“I think it’s really important because when you look at it at a county perspective, we got a $1.6 billion budget,” said Caswell. “Many times, we do things cookie-cutter. We look at things across the board, and we’re not getting down to the root cause for the communities that have greater needs.”
New data shows violent crimes and property crimes are declining.
Friday, community leaders echoed the need for more work on the ground to keep the trend going.
“What I’m finding out is most of these kids don’t want to be bad. They don’t want to get in trouble, but they don’t have any options,” said the founder of The Dwelling Place, Leon Jones, which is another designated Resiliency Hub.
Jones and his wife operate a late-night men’s basketball league every Friday night.
“My wife and I have been doing this by ourselves. We pay for everything. We don’t have any staff and we’ve been there every Friday night. It helps me to hire success coaches and bench coaches to sit on the bench and mentor them,” said Jones.
Commissioner Caswell says this new effort will be data-driven, tracking their progress through the group School Seed.
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