New “Resiliency Centers” in North Memphis Plan to Provide Comprehensive Services to Residents

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WMC) – A new public safety strategic plan unveiled Friday will focus on the North Memphis community.

Shelby County Commissioner Charlie Caswell announced that the county will work hand in hand with select non-profit organizations they call “Resiliency Centers” that offer comprehensive services to their residents.

Key centers include new Pure Academy in North Memphis, “Monastery” and church “Embassy of Faith”.

These centers will also work with other community organizations in Raleigh, Nutbush, Fraser and unincorporated areas of Shelby County.

These nonprofits include the Golden Institute, a nonprofit that works with youth like 20-year-olds Damion Brown and Jerry Lee.

Damion Brown is a 20-year-old landscape designer at the Golden Institute.(Action News 5)

These two have come a long way since they were first introduced to the Golden Institute in Raleigh as high school students.

“All I knew was to sit at home and play the game,” Lee said.

The nonprofit pays kids to learn a trade. It is 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 out easy, collecting leaves, cleaning up, and then you start leveling up,” Brown said.

The nonprofit’s founder, Charlie Golden, also offers hairdressing and natural hair and nail schools at deep discounts.

On Friday morning, his efforts gain a little more support.

Commissioner Caswell announced an initial investment from the county of $600,000 to help fund nine different organizations in the community.

“I think it’s really important because when you look at it from a county perspective, we’re looking at a $1.6 billion budget,” Caswell said. “Often we do something standard. “We look at things across the board and don’t get into the root cause of communities that have great needs.”

New data shows Violent and property crimes are down.

On Friday, community leaders reiterated the need for more work on the ground to keep the trend going.

Pastor Leon Jones, non-profit director "Place of residence" — Pastor Leon Jones, operator of the non-profit organization “Dwelling”(Action News 5)

“I found that most of these kids don’t want to be bad. They don’t want to get in trouble, but they have no choice,” said founder of The Dwelling Place, another designated resilience center, Leon Jones.

Jones and his wife organize an overnight men’s basketball league every Friday night.

“My wife and I did it ourselves. We pay for everything. We have no staff and we were there every Friday night. It helps me hire success coaches and bench coaches to sit on the bench and mentor them,” Jones said.

Commissioner Caswell says these new efforts will be data-driven, tracking their progress through the School Seed group.

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