MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A former Memphis Grizzlies basketball player Tony Allen attended an event in support to curb crime in the Memphis area.
Safer Memphis 365 hosted an event, hoping people would take on the goal to reduce crime in Memphis.
Tony Allen, also known as the Grind Father, joined the meeting to push for safer streets in Memphis.
The city of Memphis’ joint office of neighborhood and safety management met after five people died in five different shootings in the span of seven hours.
“We talked about 5 strategic ways in which we can interrupt the gang and group violence with out young people and that’s being mentors, being available, having more things for them to do, provide more jobs things of that nature,” said Delvin Lane, Executive Director, 91 Bloc Squad.
During the event, data showed that only 9.6% of homicide suspects are those under the age of 18.
“Youth may be driving property crimes, but not necessarily your violent crimes, and so we want to make sure that everyone just understands a level playing field of if you tackling youth crime and it’s only 10 percent of your crime then you’ve only tackled 10 percent of your crime,” said Lane.
Racheal Walker with Mane Up Memphis said there are trainings in the county that help non-profits be a little more consistent to keep turnover away, along with learning how to work with others.
“Some of the outcomes of working together is more resources where non-profits, or government agencies, and schools can really come together and build the trustworthiness back in the community, so we can start to get more people out and be more proactive than reactive,” said Walker.
Organizers say there are more events for people who want to make a difference in the community.
Click here to see more events.
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