“Men Like Us” Club Founder Asked County for $70K Grant to “Deter Youth Violence”; His Ypsi Twp. Club the Site of Assaults, Shootings, Attempted Murder

According to police records, since late-2021, the Men Like Us club building owned by Ardis Lewis, Jr. has been the site of shootings, assaults, attempted murder and an alleged sexual assault. In Mar. 2022, Lewis applied to the County for a $70,000 federally-funded ARPA grant to “deter youth from violence.”

by P.D. Lesko

This article was made possible by donations to the Ann Arbor Independent FOIA Fund. Click here to donate. The County Sheriff Dept. charged a fee to produce the pubic police records used in this article.

Men Like Us, LLC is an Ypsilanti Twp. “empowerment” group incorporated in late-July of 2021 by Ardis Lewis, Jr. The group’s headquarters, located at 3011 E. Michigan Ave., has, since shortly after the 2021 incorporation, been the site of shootings, assaults, an attempted murder and many other alleged crimes. On Mar. 29, 2022, Lewis applied to Washtenaw County for a $70,000 federal ARPA fund grant to “educate and deter the youth from violence…,” according to public records that document all of the ARPA fund applications submitted before the April 2022 deadline for the first round of funding. Washtenaw County received a total of $8 million in ARPA money from the federal government and County Commissioners plan to solicit applications in multiple funding rounds.

Just two months after Lewis applied for a $70,000 grant to “deter youth from violence,” his 3011 E. Michigan Ave. club was the site of a felonious assault with an attempt to murder, according to police reports.

Despite owning a business that is a hot-bed of violence and assaults, Ardis Lewis, Jr. was in Feb. 2023 invited to speak at a stop gun violence rally in the West Willow neighborhood, in Ypsilanti Twp. The rally was paid for with public money and sponsored by a Washtenaw County community violence intervention contractor called Supreme Felons, Inc.

It’s unclear why a speaker whose business has been the site of shootings, assaults and reports of violence, was invited by a County contractor to speak to the public about the roots of gun violence.

According to 22nd Circuit Court documents, Ardis Lewis, Jr. has a record of having been charged with multiple felonies, including assault with a dangerous weapon and aggravated assault. While attributing gun violence to women-headed households, Lewis’s criminal record includes a 2013 felony charge of CHILD SUPPORT-FAILING TO PAY/LEAVE STATE, and violating a PPO. He was forced to put up the amount owing in back child support as bond. The case was dismissed when Lewis paid $14,635.95 in back child support.

In his comments at the West Willow rally, Lewis, a car salesman, according to his LinkedIn account, claimed that gun violence is caused by not only rap music, but also from getting “away from the order of how God said to be.”

County Administrator Greg Dill and Chair of the County Commissioners Justin Hodge had no comment when asked why public money was being used by County contractor Supreme Felons, Inc. (funded to do Community Violence Intervention work) to spread misinformation to the public about the causes of gun violence.

Garen Wintemute is the director of the UC Davis Violence Prevention Research Program and the California Firearm Violence Research Center, is an expert on the public health crisis of gun violence and a pioneer in the field of injury epidemiology and prevention of firearm violence. He says gun violence stems, in part, from gun theft. “It is estimated that roughly 80% of the instances of gun violence are committed by someone that is not the original, legal purchaser of the gun,” said Wintemute.

Supreme Felons, Inc. Vice President Bryan Foley introduced Lewis: “He has an organization that many people don’t fully understand the mission that he is trying to do. I want to introduce my new found friend, my little brother, Ardis Lewis, Jr.”

Lewis identified himself and the “founder and President” of a local LLC corporation called Men Like Us. In his remarks, Lewis attributed gun violence in Washtenaw County to “rap music” and women-headed households. In addition, gun violence is a problem in the “community,” according to Ardis Lewis, because “we’ve gotten away from the order of how God said to be….Because what’s killing our kids is rap music.”

In his comments at the rally, Lewis told those present, “I feel that it [Men Like Us] was something that is needed in our community.”

The contents of the 19 police reports filed over the course of the 20 months since the Men Like Us club has opened at 3011 E. Michigan Ave., suggest Lewis’s club is a far cry from “something that is needed” in the Ypsilanti Twp. community.

Ypsilanti Twp. Supervisor Brenda Stumbo was asked whether the Twp. has any plans to shut down Lewis’s club due to the number of violent incidents that have taken place in and around the building Lewis owns. Stumbo has not yet responded.

Ardis Lewis, Jr.’s assertions concerning the roots of gun violence at the Feb. 2023 rally in West Willow, suggest his comments were not based in research or reality. His comments were more in line with self-aggrandizement, much like his colleagues in Supreme Felons, Inc.

Amy Barnhorst is the vice chair for clinical services at the UC Davis Department of Psychiatry and an associate professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine. She is a nationally recognized expert on the interface between firearms, suicide, mental illness and violence.

According to Barnhorst, “investing early in people’s lives through schools, parks, neighborhood spaces and job opportunities can all add up to violence prevention.”

Wintemute added, “In addition, data indicates that about 40% of the people committing gun homicides are not prohibited from purchasing firearms.”  

In May of 2022, Lewis incorporated Men Like Us Community Outreach, a non-profit corporation. On Mar. 29, 2022, public records show Ardis Lewis, Jr. on behalf of the Men Like Us, LLC, submitted an application to Washtenaw County in support of his $70,000 ARPA fund grant. In answer to the application question of whether he was submitting a grant proposal on behalf of a non-profit, Lewis answered “yes.” Men Like Us, LLC is not a non-profit according to the IRS Charitable Division.

In Lewis’s grant application, he chose the category of “Addressing Educational Disparities.”

In describing his “new” program, Lewis wrote: “….We want the youth to know that there are several different opportunities available to be successful in life. Our expected outcome is to educate and deter the youth from violence….” He also wrote, “It would be a true blessing and another expected outcome to receive the funding to help the program be successful.”

His grant proposal was not funded.