Providing felons a lifeline of hope
How do you reduce crime in a meaningful, lasting way? It’s simple. You change the behavior of the individuals who commit crime and you create a new culture that treats criminal behavior as taboo, as opposed to an expected way of living. That is the LifeLine to Success way.
Almost nine years ago, I saw a need to assist other individuals who had experienced contact with the criminal justice system that resulted in a felony conviction. I realized that the deck of life was systematically stacked against them.
The punishment for their bad behavior was literally a life sentence of collateral consequences of a felony conviction, and no one, to my knowledge, was doing anything about it. At that time, my wife, Vinessa, and I decided to create a space that would only target convicted felons.
Memphis has been known as a violent city, plagued with crime. That could not be our destiny. LifeLine was created to change that paradigm and we hit the ground running.
We took a group of “felons” and began equipping them to become change agents, agents of goodwill. With that training, they were charged to use the power of their existing relationships to intentionally dismantle the criminal culture.
It worked. In no time, the team began fighting blight on a voluntary basis, which served several purposed that outsiders doubted and didn’t understand.
As a former criminal, I understood the drive of the criminal mind. I understood the motivation and the allure. I used that, coupled with a sense of a new morality (which the team assisted in creating) to provide a new drive, determination and motivation.
I began to create and share hope with hopeless people. The team began to take pride in their new way of thinking. That new thinking led to better behavior. The results are tangible.
Memphis has an improved method of maintaining vacant and blighted properties, in large part, due to the relationship with LifeLine’s BLIGHT PATROL. Not only has the city begun to look better, the crime in our neighbor (Frayser) has been significantly reduced.
Today, LifeLine and its member enjoy healthy relationships with the City of Memphis, the school system, the District Attorney’s office, the community and, ironically with the Memphis Police Department through a collaboration with Playback Memphis. And that is not an exhaustive list.
We have been successful at our mission because of our faith. Our faith causes us to show unconditional love to our members, something many of them have never experienced. In return, our members express their love for themselves through their interactions and intentional efforts to KEEP MEMPHIS CLEAN AND SAFE.
Rev. DeAndre Brown is co-founder of LifeLine to Success.