Nashville Nonviolence Coalition
Resource List

  • If you or your church want to get involved with troubled youth who are seeking a new beginning, you can contact Chaplain Earnest Lemon: 720-2620/862-8066 x71020 (lemonpass@aol.com) at the Nashville Juvenile Justice Center (www.nashville.gov/juvenile_court/index.htm). Chaplain Lemon works full-time at the JJC and is in contact with virtually every young person who comes through the Juvenile Detention Center.
     
  • If you want to quickly get connected with others in various neighborhoods who are working directly with at-risk youth, Chaplain Lemon has created a community organization along with a fellow full-time professional at the Juvenile Justice Center, Rev. James Turner II: 525-5890 (JCTURNERII@aol.com).  The Dream Team Youth Coalition is a gang awareness and youth assistance organization that hosts various events and welcomes wider participation by area churches and community leaders.
     
  • Local Churches offer one of the best chances for connecting troubled youth with adults who can provide them the guidance and direction they need.  There are a host of wonderful churches actively engaging their communities.  Some pastors, such as Mt. Nebo Baptist Church’s Rev. Theodore Bryson (www.mountnebobaptistchurch.org) and Church of the Messiah’s Rev. Bryan Williams:  255-3713, are working with others in their neighborhoods to actively reach out to unchurched youth through ministries designed to “meet them where they are.”  There are also para-church organizations, like Square One Ranch (www.squareoneranch.org)that are trying to help teens move from violence and hopelessness to a life of hope and peace.
     
  • American Baptist, Belmont, Vanderbilt and & Other Universities have a variety of academic departments that are willing to provide everything from expertise to interns in order to bring the resources of the university to bear on the needs of our youth in the city.  At Belmont University, you can contact Dr. Todd Lake, Vice President of Spiritual Development (laket@mail.belmont.edu) in order to connect with departments such as social work, business or English, whose faculty and students are eager to increase their involvement in the community.  For example, the Pearl-Cohn School Academy of Business, led by Denise Bentley, is interested in partnering with business faculty and students at area universities.
     
  • NUPACE is the Nashville Youth Violence Prevention, Urban Partnership, Academic Center of Excellence (http://nupace.mmc.edu/nupacecoalition.html) is led by the Rev. Neely Williams.  Their mission is to promote an academic/community partnership that integrates prevention science with community action in order to reduce violence among youth 10-24 years of age in Nashville/Davidson County TN. NUPACE goals are to: 1. Bring together researchers, practitioners, community representatives, youth and policy makers in an integrated; inter-disciplinary approach to prevent youth violence in Nashville/Davidson County. 2. Develop an integrated, multi-level, youth violence prevention strategic plan for Nashville/Davidson County that utilizes a public health approach; 3. Conduct a targeted, inter-disciplinary, program of prevention research that investigates the context, causes and consequences of youth violence that uses community-based participatory research methods; 4. Identify, support and evaluate promising interventions; 5. Establish a County-wide youth violence prevention surveillance system; 6. Monitor changes in violence among youth 10-24 years of age; 7. Facilitate communication about youth violence and prevention related activities to local partners; 8. Translate and disseminate results of youth violence prevention research and programmatic activities to local communities, professional audiences, and policymakers.
One of the members of the NUPACE team is Dr. Douglas D. Perkins  douglas.d.perkins@vanderbilt.edu), Director of the     Center for Community Studies at Peabody College.  He reminds us that the larger social and legal context in which youth live has a direct impact on their behavioral choices.  He points out that a focus on reducing underage alcohol accessibility or illegal gun sales would have a dramatic impact on youth violence.   As we work directly with youth, we also need to band together to advocate for systemic changes in the environment in which our youth live.
  • There are so many good, understaffed programs in existence that it is usually best to start by working with one of them than by beginning yet another new initiative.  One very practical way to get involved is through the Bordeaux Northwest Family Resource    (http://www.heros-inc.org/BORDEAUX.pdf) (http://www.unitedwaynashville.org/content/index.php?pid=85). You can contact Ken Jones:  Kenneth.Jones@mnps.org  (291-6355 x104) to become a mentor.
     
  • The plight of foster care children is the focus of the Governor’s Mentoring Initiative    www.tennesseeanytime.org/governor/viewArticleContent.do?id=952 .  You can contact John Little: 202-2128 to get linked with foster children in need of an adult to help them.
     
  • The Amachi program of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Middle Tennessee serve children of incarcerated parents with a mentor. These children most at risk are in some cases invisible to much of the adult and social service population. It is affiliated with the Amachi Institute. For more information on how you can become a mentor, contact Sandy Moore at 615-329-9191 ext. 219 or smoore@bbbsmt.org
     
  • For more than 20 years, Salama (Swahili word for peace) has served the Greater Nashville area through providing life-changing programs that equip children with skills needed for success in life and to nurture lives of integrity and hope through the foundation of faith. After a two-year season of evaluation and planning, Salama has now designed its new programming model, "The Salama Institute." The Salama Institute is taking the elements of spiritual, academic, leadership and artistic excellence to the next level with the desire to effectively produce leaders from among those we serve. For more information on how you can become involved please contact Stan Weber at 615-251-4051 or visit their website at www.salamaserves.org.