Ray Winans
Violence Intervention Specialist and Co-Founder, DLIVE (Detroit Life Is Valuable Everyday)
Ray Winans, a Detroit native, has dedicated his life to mentorship of youth engaging in at-risk behavior. A former member of a Detroit chapter of the Bloods, Ray was engaged in violence and the drug trade by his fourteenth birthday, and spent much of his adolescence in prison for second degree murder charges. A job as a grocery clerk motivated his desire to stop his participation in criminal behavior, and in 2010, Ray began volunteering with several youth mentorship programs in the Detroit Metro area.
In 2012, Ray and Dr. Tolulope Sonuyi founded DLIVE, a hospital-based intervention program for young men engaged in cycles of violence. Ray has been recognized nationally for his work in mentorship, receiving President Obama’s Volunteer Service Award and the Willis Young Memorial Award from the National Network of Hospital-Based Violence Intervention Programs, as well as a Fellowship for Black Male Engagement (BMe). Ray was also the 2019 Echoing Green Black Male Achievement Fellow.