In the realm of gun violence prevention, Switching Lifestylez co-founder Carlos Jones is both an original gangster and the new kid on the block.
Incarcerated at age 11, Jones grew up in the prison system. In total, he has spent more than 27 years behind bars across multiple sentences. The Brooklynite decided to give his life to Cure Violence after coming home roughly five years ago, drawing from his past as a Bloods gang member to focus on disrupting the violence he once perpetuated. In other words, a credible messenger speaking from experience.
“I was the problem in the street, but I became a solution,” Jones said. “I was that gang member everybody looked up to, so I transformed that to something else. Now I’m the guy that’s changing lives. They’ve seen the destruction I’ve done in the street and they’ve seen my transformation. They see that I’m doing positive things, and they can gravitate to me because I was once them. That’s how we can relate.”
He soon enlisted with Gangstas Making Astronomical Community Changes, Inc. (G-MACC), then the leading anti-violence organization in Fort Greene, and quickly climbed the ranks. But the nonprofit abruptly fell apart and Jones found himself volunteering on the frontlines. He started over from humble (and unpaid) scratch with Switching Lifestylez, which he co-founded with fellow ex-G-MACC employee Inez Wilson. For the first two years, they brokered peace with no funding—only credibility.
“We used to work for another organization, but the contract was taken,” Jones said. “But we continue to do the work…We didn’t want to leave our community [as] if no one is there for them.”
He describes his duties as mentoring high-risk youth, mediating conflicts, cultivating job readiness, and assisting with reentry (from gang life or prison to society). Ultimately, those efforts all contribute to stopping shootings long before a firearm is picked up.
Jones’s work can’t be gauged by gun arrests or prosecutions, but Councilmember Crystal Hudson believes if numbers could fully depict his successes, they would measure “lives saved, conflicts mediated, and the widespread empowerment of a community left to fend for itself after decades of disinvestment and policy failure.”
“Spend a day with Carlos and you’ll see a man who is as loved and respected as much as he loves and respects everyone in the community with which he works—from our youth to our elders,” Hudson said. “He is a role model, mentor, and friend to many, and watching him work is incredible. He brings an unwavering sincerity and empathy that makes it clear why he is so beloved. Across our city, there is a great need for more people like Carlos and organizations like Switching Lifestylez.”
Hudson also called for credible messengers like Jones to receive “full tools and resources” for the long run, remarking that “a labor of love can only last so long.”
Those two years have seen Switching Lifestylez do a lot, without a lot.
“It was great to see people step up, because they saw the mission and they knew I couldn’t pay them—they just jumped on board,” Jones said. “Once they saw the picture, they understood my mission. We had no grants. We had nobody to write grants for us. We had no funding. We just had our voice.”
Tandy Lau is a Report for America corps member who writes about public safety for the Amsterdam News. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep him writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by visiting https://bit.ly/amnews1.