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Cops and Barbers fundraiser hopes to support continued community dialogue

During the 2014 police shooting of Michael Brown, a Charlotte barber watched the calamity in Ferguson, Missouri, and his life permanently changed.   
As that barber saw the faces of the frustrated citizens protesting in Ferguson, “My wife said, ‘what are you going to do about it?’”  From that moment on Shaun “Lucky” Corbett has been an instrument of change in Charlotte. 
Cops and Barbers, founded by Corbett, owner of Lucky Spot Barbershop, was created to establish meaningful relationships to make it easier to have much needed dialogue between police and the community.
“The more we are able to talk and have those tough conversations the more able we are to learn about each other and be more understanding.” Corbett said.
Now three years later, the program has morphed into a critical communication link, and starts with a scholarship-buddy program, where qualifying students can receive a scholarship to attend barber school, participate in volunteer activities and peer-to-peer police academy cadet partnerships.
The program pairs black barbers and white cops so when volatile situations flare up, they can work together to calm tensions.
Lucky Spot Barbershop is where people come to have conversations about what is happening in the community. 
“We can have the real conversations here. Where you can speak your truth,” Corbett said. “I take the truth we speak day in and day out and put it in a forum where we can all benefit from the conversations we all are having.”
The newest piece of the program has paired a barber student with a rookie cop.
Two weeks ago, Timothy Ellerbe, who is in barber school spent his morning watching a police class graduate.
"I believe not all policemen are what they're portrayed on TV as or what I see on social media,” Ellerbe said.
The cadet partnership is where Justin Cawley, a CMPD recruit graduate, comes in.  Ellerbe and Cawley are the first two people to go through the Cops and Barbers program together.
"Getting introduced to the program influenced my standpoint and viewpoint on so many things," Cawley said. “Meeting Tim has shown me that I need to go to different people with different perspectives because not everybody is the same.”
For these two men, Cops and Barbers has gone from a program to a friendship giving both men a different viewpoint on the cultures they grew up in.
CMPD hopes to form dozens of partnerships like this in the future because they need the support.
“I feel like this program should grow.  If we can understand each other as a community, then we can better deal with situations that might scare us,” Ellerbe said.
The Cops and Barbers Foundation’s inaugural Game Changer Awards is May 2 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Betchler Museum of Modern Art at 420 S. Tryon St. and will be hosted by WSOC-TV anchor Erica Bryant. 
Click here to purchase your tickets online. 
The foundation will recognize those who have made an impact on the Cops and Barbers initiative, making contributions toward improving the relationships between the police and the community members they serve.  
Click here for more information about the program.
If you have an inspiring story to share, email Kevin Campbell, WSOC-TV/WAXN-TV community affairs manager, at kevin.campbell@wsoctv.com

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