City Council Committee - Regular Meeting

It is 107. Councilman Ford is here, myself, Councilman Smiley, and Ms. Keeton here is to tell us what to do to make sure we're on task with what I call the grants presentation. Committed order? Who's first? Pretty long agenda today. All right, so we're going to try to get through. How many minutes were you all promised?

Two?

The reason I'm asking is because Ms. Keaton wanted to get my blood pressure up. She said, everybody got five minutes. I said, oh, no, oh, no, oh, no, oh, no. So the word that I like to use is brevity. If you've been to a council meeting when I served as chair, that was my favorite word. Keep it short, sweet, and then I'm probably going to ask you a couple of questions. Councilman Formax, a couple of questions too. We can get through it pretty quickly, okay? Because there's going to be a group that comes in after you, and we're going to do the same thing over and over. Just a tidbit of advice. I think I gave it to a couple of people when I was walking around greeting folks. This matters, one, because it's procedural, and I think most of you all are first-time applicants. first-time applicants, but this is just a part of it. Just because you have a great presentation today and Councilman Ford says, I like you, when I say I love you, there's going to be about 40, 50, maybe 100 plus people is consistently reaching out to us. We may forget. So the best advice I can give you, I feel like I've been doing this 30 years and it's been like six or seven, I don't know, it's a blur, is consistently reach out to the council members to let them know about your organization. And if you email them, don't consider it a touch. You only consider it a touch when you get them on the phone or you're able to see them face to face. I can tell you this, on the day of the dead, don't bother Councilman Ford. Come see him at the funeral home and he will make time to talk to you. And if you can't reach him, the next best person, I don't know where Tara is, but she gonna be right back. Find Tara and talk to Tara. Usually can reach me. If you can't reach me, my boss to my left, Ms. Keaton, she know how to find me, except for Crystal Carpenters. She can find me pretty quickly as well. All right, let's get started, and we're going to make it as quick as possible. Advocates for immigrants' rights, are they here? They are not here. We're going to move them. And then Christian, what did you say? Oh, it's supposed to be two. Okay, the Binghampton Christian Academy. And if you have a presentation, you can give it to myself, Councilman Ford, but each staff present represents another council member. So if you can't get to the council member, you may want to talk to the staff and shoot your shot. Tell them about your particular organization because most of the staff is going to take detailed notes so they can report back to the council members who are not here. All right. Yes, ma'am, I can hear you. Wonderful.

Will my name?

Can you hear me now? Okay, great. Even better. Yes, wonderful. Well, thank you so much for the opportunity. I am Shelly Alley, and I'm with Binghamton Christian Academy. And I am going to roll through this quickly, but I am very thankful for this chance to be in front of you today. I want to tell you about Binghampton Christian Academy in case you're not aware who we are. We are a Christ-centered school that has been serving the Binghampton community for 30 years. We serve pre-kindergarten through fifth grade, and for some of our highest-need students, 30 students live on our campus. in a boarding school, Monday through Friday. We're very unique in that way. 30 students live on campus. We are very unique in that our school is committed to making it accessible to all of our families. Families only pay 200 a year no matter how many children they have enrolled in the school, and only $50 a semester to live in the dorm. The actual cost is $12,000 per student in the day school, $5,000 for the residential program. So we are community supported and funded. This is our first time to come before you to ask for any assistance with our program, and so this is why this is such a joy to do. So what the problem is that we're seeking help on, our residential students face so many issues, and I don't have to go through them all because y'all are well aware of what many families face, especially in Binghampton. Our goal is to provide them a safe, stable, nurturing environment where they can thrive academically, emotionally, physically, and spiritually. Thank you. So we have more than 300 volunteers that serve at our school, whether that's being tutors. We have many that provide dinner meals in the evening for our kids in the program. But the problem is, even with all of that, only about 75% of the evenings are covered with meal support. So we really need additional assistance to help fund nutritious meals for our students. And most of our kids have never got to enjoy some of the great educational cultural resources.

Can I ask you a couple questions? Of course. I'm assuming all the students, do they come from Binghampton?

That majority of our students, that's the first priority, but really any student in Memphis is eligible as long as we have openings.

Does it essentially serve as like a boarding school?

For about 25% of the kids, the highest needs live on campus, the other students just come in for the day school. Yes, it's considered in community boarding. We want to keep close connections with their families. They have not been removed from the home for any reason. It's just for support.

And then what grade does it go to?

Pre-kindergarten, so four-year-olds through fifth grade. Four-year-olds through fifth grade. Yes, yes. So the grant that we're asking for is $10,000 and this will go to support, yes, it goes to support those meals that I spoke about before and also providing them a chance to go visit these places in Memphis that most of them have never, many have not left their neighborhood. So we want to send them to the Civil Rights Museum. We want to send them to the Children's Museum. We want them to go to the Orpheum. We want them to have a well-rounded Memphis experience. And we feel like this is an easy way for us to help them to fall in love with the city. We, every day, our motto at our school is, you belong here. We teach these kids that they are loved and they have purpose, and we think this grant support not only provides them the nutrition they need, but also help them know that the city is supporting of them and they belong here. Thank you.

All right. I mean, I like it.

Yes. We fundraise, that is my job, I write grants to churches, individuals, 70% of individuals support our school. Yes, this is our, we will be 33 years old at the end of this month, and so this is the first time that we've ever reached out to receive any community funds from Memphis City Council. Yes, yeah.

Make sure you reach out to Councilman Spinoza and tell him I told you to. Yes, I will. Thank you so much. By the Spinoza. He's going to support you. Okay. All right.

Thank you so much. Is there any other questions?

Great presentation. Keep doing the work. I think one of the reasons, one of the things we need in our community is finding ways to provide more opportunities for our youth. So kudos to the work you're doing. Okay.

Thank you. I appreciate it.

You didn't have your glasses on when you talked to me. I was like, what's happening right now? Thank you.

All right, children and family in Richmond and Idlewild, say your name and then get started.

It's Children and Family Enrichment at Idyllwild. My name is Vicki Cox, and I'm the executive director. So what if I told you that an investment of $250,000 alongside the resources that CAFE already has could address some of Memphis' greatest challenges before they become crisis? And that is what CAFE at Idyllwild does. I don't have to tell you all that just under 40% of Memphis' children live in poverty. For a young child, poverty can mean more than just a financial hardship. It can mean toxic stress, fewer learning opportunities, family instability, and entering school already behind. At CAFE, we believe in early intervention. So we combine early childhood education, literacy and STEM, social-emotional development, trauma-informed care, and parent education and family resources. And we look to navigate resources for parents and put this into two generations. We serve the children and we serve the family. Should I continue? Keep going. Okay. We know something. We know that when children thrive, families thrive. And when families thrive, Memphis thrives. We're requesting $250,000 to expand our current program. We are not a first-time company coming to ask you all for help. We have been in this business for 10 years. We applied for this grant back in 2021. We applied again in 2022. You did not. None. We rejected. We never made it this far. And we are thankful in 2026 to have made it this far. But what I do want you all to know is that we did not stop presenting. We did not stop doing the work that we would have done. So what we're asking for is not for you to support the total program, but to just come alongside us and help us along. Our program is in line with what Memphis is already looking for. You're wanting to strengthen early intervention and catching kids younger, and that's the work that we do. We're asking you to invest $250,000, not in a simple program, but in prevention, resilience, stronger families, and 250 opportunities to change the trajectory of Memphis children. In 2025, along with no additional support from the city, We helped over 150 families, and we're asking you all to help us support even more families in the city now. We are located in Midtown. We are connected to Idlewild Presbyterian Church, but we are a separate nonprofit.

Correct.

No. Yes. Five years. And applied for this grant all five years. I think my time has come.

Correct.

Amen.

Thank you. We will do. Thank you.

Okay, so Ms. Keeton informed me that the council members should have 75% of their allocations in to our staff by Tuesday. So when I say reach out to them, I mean their work starts now. If you have not reached out to other council members and find time to get face-to-face meetings or calls, This day is not over. Like, keep reaching out to the council. I know you were hoping some of the council members, you're reaching out to them now because most of them will have almost all, if not all, of their funds allocated by Tuesday. So between now and Tuesday, you need to do whatever you can to reach the council members. Councilman Ford is not here, so we're experiencing this. And then another thing before we go to the next person, if you're here and you're slated to present and you have not checked in, please go see Ms. Valda. Ms. Valda is the grant administrator. Make sure you sign in as well. All right, who's next? Delta Boulay. Delta Boulay. Y'all know Mr. Burgess. We hope Mr. Burgess listens to the rules, which is brevity. I said we hope Cesar Burgess listens to the rules, which is brevity. But he grew up in a Baptist church, and he's a politician. So listen, we all know. We all know. All right, sir. Yes, sir.

First of all, thank you for the invitation to all of the vice chair, the chairs here today. I'm here representing the Sigma Phi Phi, the Delta Blue Legs, which is one of the oldest black fraternity founded in 1904. But the Memphis chapter, which is the Delta chapter, is the sixth boule, which was founded in 1910. But the Delta boule, Sigma Phi Phi, decided not to be a part of the divine nine. So that's why it's not incorporated. I'm sure we got two alphas in here, and I know what 06, I know what that means. Okay, brother. Okay, brother. I just wanted to kick it off, brother. All right, then. Thank you, brother. I thought that was going to ignite everybody. But really, again, thank you. And we have a nationwide initiative, which is called the Parity Project, base 11. And here is the chair of the social action committee. I head that committee. And what our members are saying nationwide is it used to be part of my brother's keeper. And now what they're saying is that how do we get our students of color aligned to some of those great jobs or good jobs when it comes to STEMs? We also are affiliated with the Black Men in White Coats. That's part of our initiative, too, because we're just trying to get students the resources and getting those jobs because we all know at the end of the day it's about parity when it comes to jobs and when it comes to income. So we have partnered with the Memphis Chamber, which was our first initiative that we had, or our first STEM summit we had, and we got with, if y'all know her, Amity, and we applied for a $30 million EDA Compete Grant, and out of 350 applicants, Chairman Ford, we were number 10. And it was us, it was Code Crew, and maybe two more, I can't think of their names, but we didn't finish first. And it was a 30 million grant to let you know that there's monies out there to support these kind of initiatives when it comes to STEMs. And also we partnered with the first African American Dean of Engineering, his name is Dr. Coley, which we had a STEM Summit with him last year when it comes to STEMs. STEMs is a very hard initiative here in Memphis and Shelby County because of the background and some of the issues we have with poverty in our schools, not enough math teachers, but we're gonna continue to make sure we push the STEM initiative so these kids can have the right or the right track, be on the right track when it comes to the resources when it comes to STEM. So we're going to hold our, I'm probably saying too much, going to hold our next STEM summit at Stax, at the Stax Museum. So I'm going to let Ms. Jeanine, who's our consulting coordinator for our STEM project, to take over with the introduction.

Thank you. Good afternoon, honorable members of the City Council. My name is Janine Robinson, representing the Delta Boulay Foundation of Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity. We are based in District 5. For over a century since our founding in Memphis in 1910, our organization has been dedicated to supporting youth through intellectual growth. leadership development and mentorship, today we are asking for your investment in our upcoming fourth annual STEAM Summit, requesting $10,000 to help fund this vital initiative. Memphis faces a critical challenge in educational equity and economic mobility. of roughly 80,000 African American students in Shelby County schools. Only 1,300 are enrolled in STEM or STEAM magnets. And while many students possess the talent and aptitude, they face profound exposure and retention gaps. Nationally, black workers make up 8 to 9% of STEAM workforce, and only about 15% of students complete STEAM majors, compared to 30% of their white and Asian counterparts. We know that high-paying STEAM careers provide a proven pathway out of poverty, helping to close the racial wealth gap, and build generational prosperity for families right here in Memphis. Furthermore, diverse perspectives are essential to driving local industry innovation and challenging historical disparities. The Delta Boulay Foundation has a strong track record of turning commitment into action. Through our signature Seaboys program at Le Moyne Oyen College, we mentor high potential young men, providing professional attire, interviewing skills, and internships. And through the Boulay Scholars, yes sir, thank you. It's gonna be in October of this year, yes. The funding we're requesting goes to the STEAM Summit.

Okay, and how many students are we expecting and what's the age range?

150. We're targeting middle school. We've done in the past middle and high school students. This year we want to target middle schools because pedagogical insight gives us details about how it's more impactful to target them at middle school.

Councilman Ford? You're good. All right.

Can you hear the mic? Right.

No. So we have a budget for, as I chair the Social Action Committee, but what the 10,000 would do, it would help us do some things like give all the kids shirts, all the kids that will come in. It will help with the, not just the lunches, but it would help with the overall, the tickets, because they're going to have an event there all day. And of course, you know, we know that the... Stacks Museum needs some kind of funding if you've got all those kids there. And also what it would do also is it would help us maybe for the next year also if we have any monies left over. Because again, this is our fourth one. The first one was at the Civil Rights Museum Councilman where we brought all of the STEM people together. The second one was at Rhodes College. And the third one last year was at the University of Memphis where Some of their students did some classes, projects. As a matter of fact, Monica Warden pretty much facilitated that effort. So we're just trying to introduce our students to those STEM careers. And we know it's a difficult task, but we're going to keep the task. It's more of an exposure thing than anything. And we're just going to continue to try to get those kids on that trajectory of STEMs and those good-paying jobs.

All right, this has nothing to do with your presentation. I just want to, there's another alpha man over there. All right. Okay, sure. Thank you all for your presentation.

Thank you. Thanks, Judy.

You ready?

Yeah. My boss, Ms. Keaton, to my left, has been whispering in my ear. She wants me to let you all know that... So the way the funding works, you know, once the council votes, let's say council allocates all the funding this upcoming Tuesday, don't expect payment right away. It's subject to getting all the funding agreements together and then, so somewhere about 60 to 90 days. And she'll whisper if I got that wrong. Who's next? Destination Education Family Services. Come on. I was looking for you. I got a note that you may be late. Destination, education, family service. All right, Nye. And the floor is yours. You missed my long speech, but basically the most important thing to remember is brevity. And then I may interrupt you and ask you some questions.

Okay. All right, so I'm Jacoby Hardy. I'm the founder of Guest Nation Education Family Services. We started in... All right, cool. We were founded in 2019 in March. Right now, today, we service right around 1,000 children and families, and our mission is pretty much to bring high-quality child care into any city, no matter a family's income. And we're rooted in pride, safety, integrity, community partnership, and results. It actually works. We have an infrastructure of four locations. We're about to open up our, well, three locations. We're about to open up our fourth location now. We're going to be in Riley, over on St. Elmo's. So we, in East Memphis, over on Riverdale, Madison, two locations on Madison, then one on Samo. We're around pretty much all the major employers, hospitals, logistic corridors, and workforce population. Childcare isn't just workforce. I'm sorry, child care is workforce infrastructure, and we've identified that the problem most parents, they have, they work non-traditional hours, and we provide services that match their schedule. Child care instability create barriers to consistent employment. We do night shifts. We do, sometimes we do weekend shifts. So we pretty much just try to be there for the working parents to make sure they're able to, you know, sustain a livable income. uh right now we're asking for funding uh we'll go to the next one right now we're asking for funding for uh two initiatives that we got going on as far as we do a uh christmas uh event as well as a fall festival if y'all are not familiar with the work that he does i i took myself to one of his christmas events i don't know if i ever seen that many kids in one space i have no children it was a lot it was a lot but he does he does excellent work go ahead Thank you. So for our Christmas event, we normally, this past year we had right about 300 children, not including their parents. We feed everybody. We provide a lot of community resources to them. And, of course, as you can see on the picture, we give away plenty of toys. And, you know, we just give them, you know, an opportunity to enjoy Christmas. Our fall festival, we normally bring in the same amount of kids. And it's open to the community. And we just provide like a resource hub for parents. And we try to provide what they call a holistic approach to everything that we do when it comes to servicing the whole family. Right now, with the budget, we're asking for $50,000. $9,000 goes to supplies, $6,000 for different equipments. The outreach portion will be $20,000 and then $15,000 for food and beverages. We don't put on a huge.

So, question, because I don't remember your locations. Where are they exactly? I know one.

So we located, we got two locations on Madison. We got a location in East Memphis on Riverdale, right there on the corner of Riverdale and Chevy Drive. We also have a location that we're about to open up on St. Elmo and Ramia.

And then as it relates to the people you serve, I'm assuming the kids come from all over?

Yeah, so with our transportation service, we bus kids over from as far as North Memphis all the way to Collierville. So we normally, you know, encompass everybody. Oh, yeah, oh, yeah, we most definitely come to South Memphis. No, we go straight to South Memphis. Thank you so much.

Mike, thank you. The council is required to, are supposed to be allocating 75% of the funds that they have allocated or allotted by Tuesday. Just because you came here today doesn't mean every council member is going to hear about your presentation. Just because you emailed a council member doesn't mean they're going to hear about your presentation. FaceTime, phone time is critically important. If you can't reach the council member, their team, most of the folks here are supporting, well, folks behind me support a particular council member. Reach out to them, tell them about your program because between now, the time between now and Tuesday is critical. So consistently reach out to them. Thank you so much.

I appreciate it.

Ms. King want to say something because she's, here you go, get your mic together. There we go.

After you conclude your presentation, you do not have to stay for all of them. If you're finished with your presentation, you're free to leave. Thank you.

As y'all can see, she's been here as long as me. Come on down, Frasier. Of course. Come on, Ms. Lavelle. Come on, come on, come on. I thought you were almost retired. I'll get to that. Yeah, I don't believe it. I don't believe it. Go ahead.

My name is Steve Lockwood. I served for 20 plus years as the executive director of the Fraser Community Development Corporation. I'm currently president of the board. And I'm representing the CDC because Teddy King, our very fine executive director, is dropping his son off on his first day of college out of town. So I'm happy to fill in for him. This funding request is for a program of the CDC which is called Fraser Connect, and it was set up really to enhance communication. It's no secret that communication in low-income neighborhoods is challenging. And while most people probably know that Fraser is a beehive of civic activity, there are still segments of the community that we really don't reach. And those folks who live in the most stressed apartment complexes, single moms who got working a job and a half and got multiple kids just don't come to meetings and so we have an outreach program to address that to provide services and communication with those who need it most and here at the least so in everything from food giveaways to school services to child care services to all manner of services that families and Fraser need we are trying to enhance the the lion's share of this money goes to our ambassadors they are part-time neighborhood residents who go out into the field to communicate with folks and to provide information to them we also have you know physical newsletters a system of communication through texting and emailing and all manner of communication and we do everything we can to really let's say pump up all the existing programs in the neighborhood as well so it's not just about the cdc it's about enhancing the work of you know, from Agape to the Fraser Exchange Club. So I think that's about it. Do you have questions, Councilman?

I'm very familiar with the program. Councilman Ford? Tell Mr. King, I hope he's enjoying himself. I know it's an exciting time. I thought that was a pretty good excuse to not be here. I don't think there's, there's not too many ones that are better than that. No, that's right. Be sure to tell him to be sure to reach out to the other council members. If not, I'm pretty sure you will.

I'm sure I will send him a text shortly to, to reach out to particularly to council minister Thomas.

Councilwoman Mr. Thomas and Janika, Councilwoman White, Cooper's son. I mean, just because I tell people we may be elected by a certain group, certain part of the city, but our job is to represent the entire city for the best.

Well, we're covered by both super districts. Absolutely. So you're our councilman.

I know. I know you know. I know that every time I look at my email.

Oh, that's good. I'm glad to hear that. Okay.

Some pretty good emails. And I use that word in jest. Thank you, Ms. Lockwood. Thank you so much. Thank you. Appreciate it. All right.

Nice to see you.

Where is Janice? All right, Madam President, the floor is yours.

All right. Good afternoon, everybody. I'm Crystal Carpenter, the president of Glenview Edgewood Manor Area Association. We're located in South Memphis. We serve about 950 residents throughout Glenview. We're located in Super District 8 and District 4. Our mission is to create a safe, healthy, and connected, thriving neighborhood. where every resident has the opportunity to live, work, and prosper. As you know, today our neighborhoods are facing a lot of challenges many communities know all too well. Crime, drug activity, neighborhood blight, limited positive activities for young people and families. We do believe these challenges are not definitions of Glenview. It's an opportunity for us to face the problem at hand. Our residents, our history, and our community strengths are our greatest assets. We're requesting $25,000 investment, which will help us turn our resident commitment. We are led and ran by our community members to help us become into more measurable results, more engaged residents, just cleaner streets in Memphis, youth programming, greater crime awareness, and neighborhood where people feel safe and proud to call home. If you look into the budget, if you can go to the budget slide, thank you. yes the budget slide most of our work does come for independent contractors we do have our inaugural community roots festival that we're planning for september or october the day keep changing i do apologize funding is important but that will go to musicians art and craft youth programming And some of our needs that our community members need is home improvement. They need the yard cut, trim, cut back, stuff that they can't physically do. Glenview was founded in 1967, so we're coming up on 70 years. So our residents, they're aging. They need our assistance. So a lot of that is technology as well to help kind of help them. We have a beautiful community center, Glenview Park. We have a class two arboretum that the neighborhood association helped start. And we do activations and programs with the summer camp at the community center throughout the summer. So we're well aware of cleanups and everything to engage the youth. We want them to know that making sure their homes are safe and taken care of would better help them when they get older. So when they live in a home and they have to take care of their families, So we want to start it young. Other programming costs, food and beverage. Of course, you've got to feed the people when you invite the people out. You want to make sure that barrier is taken down. And just program costs, paper, software, email, and all of that, and insurance and equipment. That's most of our costs. We do fundraise, so we do a lot of events throughout the year. We have about five to ten annual cleanups. We keep our community clean for blight. We do yard sales. We give back anytime we can. So Glenview is definitely rooted in the residents that live there. And we want to make sure that it is rooted in years to come. So this funding will really and truly help us really do more in our community. And we're asking for all of the city council's support. This is our first year applying for the grant.

organization been here over 20 years so i'm happy to step up to the plate and put the work down all right you know uh better bother councilwoman's words in washington i know that oh yeah jsw Apparently, you know where I'm at. Just consistently reach out to council members between now and Tuesday is going to be the most important time for those folks seeking funding. Reach out to them, email them, text them, shoot. You know where they go? Eat on Saturdays. Pull up. They'll have a conversation with you. You know, I'm a support. I live in Glenview. I think y'all do good work. Although y'all do a really good job of consistently emailing, contacting, texting about all the wonderful things that we have. So good job. Keep it up. Thank you. Thank you for being there with us. She did not let you say your name. Say something to us.

I'm so sorry. This is Ms. Jocelyn Salisbury. She heads our safety and security committee.

And she's the lady. If you were

We see Chris as the lady of all the words.

Oh, yes.

Yes, ma'am. Salisbury.

When it comes to safety, we receive several grants, and it's more toward the senior people. Yes, ma'am. We receive reed cameras, dust dun lights, anything so that we can help safety in our neighborhood.

Absolutely. Thank you, Ms. Salisbury. Thank you for being here.

All right.

Did Crystal give you a choice, or you came down by yourself?

No, if Crystal called me, I would come in.

I know how I go. I know how I go. I know how I go. But thank you so much for being here. Crystal, thank you all.

Thank you.

I think Kanali loves you all. Kanali loves how it works. Yeah.

Good afternoon. Thank you so much. I'm Ron Wade, Louise Kuntz, and we appreciate the opportunity you've got for us to talk a little bit about HopeWorks. HopeWorks has been a, in many ways, an institution in the city for about 36 years. We help the under-resourced men and women get employment and get closer to God. Yes. The area that we're specifically focused on is a $50,000 ask to increase our workforce as well as increasing our case management piece. If you could go to slide number eight, those are four areas that we work in. And those are those men and women that have a high school diploma. We provide that area. We have immigrants. We help them to get their English improvement and assimilate in society. And then we have the justice involved. Justice, we've been about a decade inside the Shelby County Division of Corrections. We've got a question. Pre-release and post-release efforts, when they come out, do we help them get jobs? And then we've also opened a 21-bed transition house for men called Next Story. In fact, our mayor was a guest speaker and part of that. was the opening that was in june june 9th okay and um uh j4 canali as well as uh you know all of those guys so they've been able to look at that so we we're really excited about it we We've had no ask for the city, and so this time we can really expand and improve the recidivism rate. The other thing that we can say is we've been objectively looked at like with slingshot or return on investment, so every $1 that's spent, the $2.50 return, Well, the executive director, Drew, Jared, yeah, Jared, and Josh, Josh Geddes, Jared, yeah.

Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Okay.

Okay. Did I hear you say you're a champion on this point? Yeah. Okay. Okay.

Okay. Okay. Okay.

Thank you.

Ex-America, many, many, many. Love of the people internationally.

All right. You go ahead. Good afternoon.

My name is Teresa Ward and I'm with Love of the Truth International. Our focus is youth development and one of the ways we do it is by practical crime prevention. We deal mainly in the Raleigh area. We believe in having consistent relationships with the families and the children in the area. We provide safe activities, meaningful work. We also do STEAM with them, character development, and we're actually visible in the community. One of the problems that we have the most with some of our children that we deal with, they are continually exposed to crime. And when I say exposed, they're actually witnessing it where it becomes almost a part of their daily life, and it's expected low expectations, lack of safe spaces, and then idle time. So we address those by some of the programs that we have. Our programs are a connected pathway. It's not a one-time program. It's something that we continually do. Some of our programs, or three that we focus on the most, is Willing Hearted Youth Initiative, our STEAM team, and also Creator Space.

All right, on our creative space, we're usually dealing with the car war in South Memphis. But we deal with Raleigh's children we've been doing. But lately, we've been trying to duplicate what we've been doing in Raleigh to take it to other communities. Yes. And so what we're doing, STEAM Life is where we take students outside of this area. We've taken them to Mississippi, met with NASA. They've been giving us some instructions on how to teach our children some experiments. And then also we had a robotics competition that we've been taking them to. Then we got a mobile bus that we're trying to get up and going because we got... CNC routers, we have laser machines that we're trying to teach them on how to use them and introduce them to some of the technology that's out there now and actually getting them to do it. We're actually taking them to a creative space where we partnered with our school system And we're actually doing experiments. We're encouraging them to ask the question, why? How? How do things work? And that's what we deal with. And that usually start up all types of conversations. But it's working. It's making a positive change. We also partner with the police station. We go in with some of the schools do after school bikes. We started with bicycles back in our day. And that's a basic thing, teaching them from the bicycle to the airplane to the ship to the rocket ship. So that was a great access to know that they went as far as they ever been this year and at NASA. And so getting them, NASA getting them ready to not only go to the moon, but go to Mars. So we got to get our children ready to be involved in that. And so we tackling those subjects that's not being tackled. And also, we're after the children that's not in the sports, not necessarily the basketball or football players. So we don't want to compete with that. And so we're in a position now to actually duplicate and how that we're asking for the capacity with the funding to be able to do that.

Q Councilman, we got any questions?

I have the pictures here.

Oh, we got it.

And, okay. And so one of the things we did do, we did the boats, make the boats out of cardboard and duct tape. And they actually, the second year, they actually made it all the way back.

About how many students do you all serve?

About 15 at a time.

About 15 at a time. Okay, all right, well, thank you. Be sure to reach out to the council members. This time is absolutely pivotal to trying to get funding from this body.

Thank you so much. Thank you for the opportunity.

All right, Magic Dead. If I don't see a Magic Tree, I'm gonna be disappointed. How you doing, sir? How you doing? Whenever you're ready to get started, say your name and then the floor is yours. Pull the mic closer to you because some of the council members are listening to this and we'll go back and listen to it at a later date. So go ahead.

My name is Dedrick Ford. I'm the founder and director of the Magic Dash Youth Mentor Group. We are a mentor program based in the Whitehaven area. We strive to empower young men through mentorship, education, leadership, career readiness, family support, and building a safer community. This organization started based out of a barbershop. in the Whitehaven area. We've been doing annual back to school giveaways every year and free haircuts. We noticed that we had a problem with crime and poverty stricken in our neighborhood and affecting our young men. They have a lack of guidance, a lack of leadership, and a lack of emotional and social support. We're asking for funds to help us with a program that we have established in partnership with the communities and schools of Memphis, where they will be referring mentees to us. What schools? These schools will be coming from the Stacks Academy, Holmes Road Elementary, and we're working on Whitehaven Elementary. And these schools, these mentees will be doing monthly meetings with them. where we'll be providing them with career readiness training, art therapy. We have certified individuals in barbering and HVAC. We're servicing young men ages 7 to 17. And we also will be offering family support to the children who don't have a male role model.

About how many students do you all serve?

Right now, we're about 20 to 25.

And how much time y'all spending with them?

Well, once a month.

Once a month, yeah. So is there a particular place that they meet up or do they come to the barbershop or y'all meet up?

Yeah, right now we've been doing things at the barbershop. What barbershop? It's the Magic Hands Barbershop. Okay, it's the Magic Hands. Yeah, Magic Hands Barbershop. And so we've actually relocated the business portion of the barbershop, so it's not a barbershop anymore. And so, yeah, so what we're doing is we're meeting with these young men um and we're providing them not only just with career training and readiness but they're also they have a lack of um guidance and some of them need people to talk to and we don't have we've been doing all this out of pocket we started in 2016 and we get support here and there but we can't provide them with food we've had to provide young men with uh coats and we've had to provide them with um hygiene products i mean we had to give moms help financially how many about how many students uh 25 25 yeah um 25 a year 25 yeah right now just 25 25 a year okay is it the same students or it varies uh it will vary yeah uh the communities and schools of memphis uh are referring these students to us i'm familiar with the organization okay yeah well that's it for me uh council before it sounds like he's good

Okay. All right. Well, thank you. Did you remind my who to call, when to call, how often to reach out to them? Did you let me talk about that?

Yeah, I think so. I'm the person that you called, right?

I ain't talking about that. Okay. So what I was saying is the council is going to allocate For those who haven't been here, listen to me. The council's going to allocate 75% of all it's supposed to. Is Ms. Valda back there? Wave your hand, Ms. Valda. That's the grants administrator. Ms. Valda is telling us now, some of us are headed. We ain't listening all the time. You're right. Are supposed to allocate 75% of the funding related to this grant program by this Tuesday. So the time between now and And Tuesday is very important if you want to be funded to some extent. Reach out to the council members now. An email is not sufficient. Calling them, getting them on the phone, going to see them. FaceTime is absolutely essential if you want to be funded. You got to connect. You see Councilman Ford now? There's 11 other council members you need to reach. If you can't reach them, the team right here behind us, they serve a particular council member. Figure out who they serve and say, hey, I really need to talk to so-and-so. If I can't reach them, here's my elevator pitch about why you should be supporting our organization, okay?

Okay. Councilman Ford was our district. We were a district now.

All right. For bonus points, since you talked about it, who's your super district members? I'm not sure. I see my feelings. All right. All right. All right. Man, appreciate you, brother. Keep doing the work. Who's next? Are you here? Are we going to keep it moving? City here. I know I saw city or something. They wishing you luck. Oh, just know the more money she get, the less you all get. All right. I don't know if you want to wish her luck.

This is community effort.

Now they hate on you. All right, I'm going to stop. I'm going to stop. I'm going to stop.

I appreciate y'all. Good afternoon. My name is Leslie Brown Rawlings, and I serve as the Executive Director of City Year Memphis. We are an AmeriCorps program that deploys young people ages 17 to 25 as student success coaches in local public schools to support academic attendance and behavior outcomes for our most vulnerable students. Through school-wide initiatives, classroom support, and individual tutoring, our student success coaches serve as trusted resources to both students and teachers within our local public schools. This is our site's 10th anniversary of operation, and over the past decade, we have impacted more than 20,000 students across the city. Last year alone, our participants delivered more than 900,000 minutes of academic intervention to students across six schools in four city council districts. However, our impact is not on students alone. When they are not serving in schools, our student success coaches receive workforce development training and career pathway support to ensure that they exit our program prepared for a successful launch into life. This includes receipt of a $7,000 education award to fund their future academic endeavors. In particular, our work has served as a strong teacher pipeline for our school partners and the city. This work is powered by our phenomenal impact team who provide day-to-day coaching, professional development, and social emotional support to our participants. This year, we're asking that the city council come alongside our efforts to advance both education and career outcomes for young people in Memphis. On a personal note, I am a mother of a third grader and a stepmother of a 23-year-old and a 25-year-old, so I see in my home every day the impact of our work, and I am honored to lead this work in our city with kids and young adults just like mine. Thank you.

Actually, I love it. I'm very impressed. Thank you so much. We'll take a brief intermission of five minutes and we'll be back here.

Yeah, that's funny as hell. That is...

I don't think y'all heard my whole spiel. My favorite word is brevity. Let's get to it. All right, name and get started.

All right. Good afternoon, council members. My name is Rhiannon Watson. I'm the advocacy coordinator for Protect Our Aquifer. And today we just want to talk to you guys a bit about where's our presentation? Okay, well, today we're gonna talk to you guys about our Water Warriors program. This is the third year that we will be hosting this program, and we are expanding this year. So what it is is a 10-week cohort in which we invite community members, particularly from affected areas in the city, to come and learn about various topics regarding water. So hydrogeology, groundwater regulations and laws, land use and zoning, as well as how to research toxic sites, learning about legacy pollution, things like that. As I mentioned, it's a 10-week program. This year, we'll have 20 paid positions with priority given to community members who are the most affected by legacy pollution, so folks in 38109. the Memphis Defense Depot area, Douglas community. At the end of it, we offer a grant. So they'll work in a group, in a large group to put together a project by the end of the cohort. And there's an opportunity for grant money to continue an advocacy program following the training. And there's no prior experience necessary. So yeah.

Yeah. Sarah Houston, serve as Executive Director of Protect Our Aquifer. And so like the newest member of Mayor Lowry's transition team. Power to water. Okay, and demystifying priority sites. We're trying to, you know, there's a lot of legacy pollution in this town and trying to understand how do we break it down and make it successful for folks to really get engaged with the cleanup process and really how their communities can grow healthy. We also try to inspire citizen science through this program. So this is an example of previous Water Warrior alumni. She was doing soil and water testing to see, you know, is it safe to plant in my garden? Is it safe for my water to drink? And then this is just a few examples of the projects that we had. So she gave a presentation in South Memphis about all the results that she had. Last year, the cohort did the Douglas Juneteenth Fair and they did the Aqua Fair and led toxic tours. We've had this past year, we had the project was a five-week high school student summer camp and they learned all about soil and water. We also had the sea of sunflowers. This is with Joel Thompson and some other great folks where they planted sunflowers that uses phytoremediation. They take soil samples and find out there's lead, arsenic or kind of heavy metals. Sunflowers are really good at taking those up. And then another project was a video project about McKellar Lake, looking at the water quality and industrial development in southwest Memphis. So that just kind of makes some of the examples of the projects folks have done. It's very community-led. They get to pick their project. POA acts as like project management. So we're there to support, help them out, make sure they have the resources and money they need. A little bit about the program cost overall, about $127,000 total cost a year for this program. And then we're requesting $30,000. And this has been possible so far from the Assisi Foundation, but they've had a match grant. So we've been trying. They don't give us the money until we raise more money. So we have to raise $75,000 this year to unlock $25,000 from them. And so the request we have today is for 23% of the cost total. And you can see some stats of things that have happened over the past few years with this program. Soil samples, 600 kids at the Juneteenth Fest. We've increased aquifer knowledge in every single cohort. And yeah, all kinds of good ways to get community really understanding the science, understanding ways to engage in their community.

Thank you. I like everything about this program except for the fact that Rhiannon told me I don't qualify.

Rhiannon.

Rhiannon told me I don't qualify. But keep up the good work. I know Council Member Ford is familiar with the work that you all do. Just make sure you reach out to the other council members as well. Anything else, Council Member Ford?

To date, we have raised $42,000. So we're almost there. We're getting close.

Are you trying to get to $75,000? Correct. $42,000, okay.

Yeah, so we're getting close. And November 1 is the deadline for this one.

Listen, go ahead.

Yeah, November 1 is our match deadline. So, yes, sir.

So when this council does something on Tuesday, if you don't get your money in time, don't blame the council. Blame the administration.

I'm just letting you know that now.

Sometimes they do their own thing. But thank you all for the work that you're doing. Keep up the work. Y'all are a prison in every community. So thank you.

Go ahead.

I talk to him like gas and water all the time. Yes, sir. No, we haven't been asking for money from them, but we're asking them to do a really good job. But I will say, you know, our rate payers, we pay 1% of our water bill to an aquifer science program. And that's all that money right now is going to University of Memphis to study. We want to see some of that money go towards implementation of the science and community engagement, not just research. So this is our money. Community's paying for it right now. We want to see this money be used in a way that's really going to make sure we have clean drinking water. So that might be an opportunity down the road. We'll see. Thanks, sir.

Thank you all. Be sure to reach out to the other council members. I'm telling you, you're going to do it between now and Tuesday. You want to say council smile and not tell me. Up next, you can start getting your stuff. Serving others well. Let me know when y'all ready and start talking. Name and organization and get started whenever y'all ready. Do y'all want your presentation up there or y'all going to start talking? All right, I got it. And pull the mic down, make sure the green light is bright. And if it's bright, start talking because somebody will listen to this later. Hit it again, hit the button. There we go, it's green.

Okay, sorry. I'm Rachel Street, and I'm the executive director of Soul Community Outreach. And we are here to ask for the council to fund a project called Sewing for Change. In that project, we are addressing the unhealthy conflict that most of our youth in Orange Mound and their families face. get into every single day, not only just within the community of Orange Mound, but also in the schools of Orange Mound. So we're looking to address that because we know that when that unhealthy conflict occurs, We have so much discord and we have so many acts of violence that occur. So we're seeking to eliminate that or eradicate that. So there's a student that I talked to about a year and a half ago. He left middle school in Orange Mound and he went to high school in Orange Mound. I saw him and I asked him how high school was going, and he said, well, it's okay. They fight a lot, though, but I guess that's normal. So he thought that that was normal. So our babies are normalizing violence because most of the time, It's what they see. So we want to be able to bring a program to address this problem. We want to be able to bring an integrated character education and social emotional learning program, farm to school program to the Orange Mound schools, specifically Hanley and Dunbar Elementary and hopefully Melrose. We currently work with Sherwood Middle. But we're seeking to bring that program and also we're seeking to expand our after school programming on our urban farm, which is located at 2417 Carnes Avenue. So we know that character is formed early, whether it's good character or bad character. It's formed early, and unfortunately, some of our children don't see the positive side of character. They don't know what empathy is or compassion might be. So we're seeking to, through this Farm to School program, teach them about character education along with social-emotional learning and about healthy food all integrated into one. So that is basically what our program is doing. With this program, we're seeking to build healthy, kind, resilient, respectful youth who are self-controlled and who are able to lead the community of Orange Mound, able to lead them in a positive manner, lead their family in a positive manner, starting now and also into the future.

About how many young people you all serve?

About 100.

About 100. Is that the entire school year, entire year?

Yes, the entire school year.

And you keep saying Orange Mound. Are all these students coming from Orange Mound, or is it predominantly?

Predominantly Orange Mound, but you want to expand on the other areas? Go ahead.

My name is Berlon Street. Serving others well is the axiom of so. I am the president of the organization. We have a Boys to Men program. We have a Raising Queens program. And we have a juvenile program that works with juveniles out of juvenile court, which is called Live. Life is Valuable. We have a parent workshop that engages the parents. So in our Boys to Men program, we operate out of several different schools. One is near dear to Councilman Smiley, which is Cummings Middle. Yes, sir. Which is Cummings, and we do Sherwood Middle. We do Middle College High. We do Kirby High. We do Hickory Ridge Middle. So we serve a plethora of kids throughout the city. And the program is kind of a mixture. But this particular grant that we're asking funding for is for our garden program, because we do social-emotional learning with the kids in the Boys to Men and Raising Queens program.

Do y'all do any work at Hopkins? No. We've met him, though. We have met him, but we haven't done any work with him.

One of the concerns about this grant program is we came, we presented to the council, and we didn't hear back. And then what I tell them is, did you reach out to the council members? You've got to consistently reach out to the council members because if they don't know, they just don't know. There's a lot of people who are going to send emails. So if you send them an email, don't think you reached out to them because they probably won't see it. Call, talk to them, get FaceTime. But keep up the good work. We appreciate your time. Absolutely. Show up. Collective. Okay, show up. Show up, show out.

That's the name of it.

Show up, show out?

No, it's show up. Oh.

Well, you showed up.

I did show up.

Now your presentation. We're going to find out.

Okay. So I'll just put this in here, I guess.

Yes. Put it in there. And if it don't work, ask somebody over there. Because if you ask me, the system might shut down.

No, it didn't pop up.

It's automatic. And I didn't know we could have the pretty backgrounds. They said stick with how it is. And that's what I did. So, yes, that's it. Okay, so we probably won't even go through this then, because I have something ready.

Yes, I'm ready.

Okay. All right. So my name is Jatina Machin, and I am the Executive Director for Show Up Collective, and basically our mission is simple. We are helping individuals and families overcome barriers, achieve stability, and build pathways to lasting independence. And so in our work, we've learned that most people, poverty doesn't present itself as just one thing. It's a plethora of things that may be going on with people. And so that could be somebody's lack of transportation, housing instability, childcare, They don't have identification to even get started with a job or access to technology. And so that's where Show Up fills in the gap. We are the people that will fill in that gap. And so through our Memphis Reset Community Mobility Hub, residents are able to get everything in one place. We can identify those barriers. We can develop an individualized plan. They can receive workforce and housing stability support. And, you know, basically we connect those resources together under one roof as well as get their consistent follow through. So we are not just simply making referrals. We are actually wanting to know, did they enroll in the program? Did they complete the program? Did they get the job? What were the barriers and did they overcome those barriers? And are they still progressing after they've left us? And so Show Up, we've already served 248 Memphis citizens without any city funding. And so personally, I have been using my salary to fund a lot of this. And we've been operating out of community centers, libraries, wherever we can find a free space to operate. But just having a 1-800 number somebody can call, that's just not enough. So we need an actual physical presence. so that people will know where we are. And so we are asking for the investment of $25,000 so that we can continue serving Memphis citizens. Like I said, we are not trying to get you guys to fund promises. We are really trying to do this investment opportunity so that we can get stability and measurable outcomes for Memphis families. And I did want to tell you that we do have mobile homes that we use for our transitional housing. And so when residents, we find out that they have unstable situations and housing is one of those, we actually do have homes where they can be placed. But it's not free to do that, and we need help to do that. And so that's what I'm asking you guys for.

One quick question for me. Where do your referrals come from?

So we get our referrals from the CCR. Are you familiar with that? We get them from there. We get them from some DCS referrals come in. If they are Memphis, we'll do that. We are connected with the Goodwill Excel Center, different places like that. OK.

All right. All good for me, Councilman Ford? All good for me. Thank you so much. Consistent communication. You got about three or four days.

Okay.

No pressure.

Thank you so much.

No pressure. But be sure to reach out to the council members. Keep up the work. I sure will. That's my piece. Shower up is next. And then Soulsville Foundation. See Massey down there? Councilman Ford.

I'm sure there's a way to make this look better. I just don't know how to do it.

Thank you, appreciate it.

All right. All right. Thank you. And yes, thank you for noticing. I did bring my emotional support animal, Sean Massey, with me today. My name is Robert Sloan. I'm with Shower Up Memphis. Yeah, he will. And he has all the right to, because he's supported me along the way and really helped my family get this started here in Memphis. But Shower Up is a mobile shower for those in need in Memphis. People experiencing homelessness, we provide clean, private, hot showers. We have endless hot water. We also provide clean towels, fresh towels, toiletries, socks, and underwear. all at no charge to our friends that are experiencing homelessness. The problem is seemingly obvious, but people experiencing homelessness face multiple barriers that sometimes we don't really think of. Limited access to shower and hygiene facilities is obviously at the top of that list. And when we were looking at getting something started in Memphis, there are so many programs Great people that are providing food, that are providing resources, providing clothing. But the one thing that we found that was missing was access to showers and the hygiene. We're a little different in a sense that you just come as you are or we come to you. You don't have to check any boxes. You don't have to. It doesn't matter who you are.

So this is unique and much needed information. Very unique. Yeah. I was talking to Meredith, and I said, this is a dope idea, I think. Question for you. How many of these, I'm assuming, like mobile home things that you're doing?

So we have one truck and trailer here in Memphis.

One truck and trailer.

And it has three shower stalls. They are private shower stalls. Again, endless hot water. We can either hook up to a regular residential water faucet to provide water to the shower, or we have a 200-gallon tank that we fill up when we go to some of the homeless communities that don't have access to water.

How often do you all stop in some of the areas where the unhoused people are?

You know, the demand is so high right now that we have a couple of places that we don't have the time, talent, or the resources to reach some of these other communities. We've partnered up with the hospitality hub and something that's really cool there. I think the barber's already left, but one of the barber schools shows up once a month. We've partnered with them that we've got the shower there that day. Again, it's just a need that's great and we're doing the best we can to provide it.

So if a council member wanted to say, hey, here's a particular area, like how can someone just say, hey, is this a particular area you want to come?

So that's how we've grown is we've grown organically. We have other nonprofits and ministries and community leaders that have called us and said, hey, come partner up with us on Friday night. We're hosting meals downtown. We'll come set up in the parking lot. The hospitality hub is who really helped launch us. We provide the shower facility during the warming shelter. So again, when the warming shelter's set up, if it's not one degree outside and the shower's not completely frozen solid, we'll set up out in the parking lot for hot showers. And another thing that's unique is there's no time limit. We ask that you take the time that you need but not, you know, to be respectful of others.

Dope idea. I think it's impactful.

So just real quick on the impact. I'm going to support you. Yeah, I appreciate it. So we're the only mobile outreach. We've provided over 4,000 showers so far. We've also provided since the summer of 2024. yeah um and that actually that number doesn't include the events we did on tuesday and thursday and we have another one tomorrow um we provided 32 000 hygiene kits um again you don't have to be you don't have to be experiencing homelessness to get a to get a shower kit we have men women and children that show up all the time that just need toothbrush toothpaste shampoo soap etc um all of that is free and we've we've taken in most of that on donations from other churches and non-profits we're currently serving four days a week and consistently in districts one four and six um again we've got multiple collaborations i've already mentioned the uh the Memphis City warming shelter, and something else that makes Shower Up work is we have 452 volunteers as of right now that have served either, you know, whether they've served one event or they've served a dozen events. That's what has allowed us to keep our budget as low as it is. We only have one full-time employee that he's at every single event, and then we have a part-time employee. Everything else is volunteer run. I'm not paid. It's all the money goes into... into the organization. We're trying to bring access to basic hygiene to those in need. We're trying to help reduce some of those barriers to employment and healthcare and just all of the obvious things that you would expect from a homeless ministry.

I'm going to support you. I think this is something that's needed in our community. There's a lot of people in our community that are unhoused and just need a place to go. So thank you. Thanks for the work you do. Thank you, Sean. Thank you. Ben, his support is important as well. Councilman Flory, you good? All right. Thank you. Keep it going. All right. Those of you.

And I know we're supposed to reach out to our council members consistently before Tuesday.

All right, go ahead, go ahead.

So just one, Soulsville Foundation

Go ahead. I'm just going to try to go ahead. I'm going to start asking some questions. I just want you to know that.

Okay, okay. Pat Metruoli, CEO of the Soulsville Foundation.

And Tyler Smith, Development Manager of the Soulsville Foundation.

So basically to start out, as proud Memphians, y'all all know the legacy that is Stax Records and what is meant as far as Memphis being able to take its name around the world. Now within that, many of you also have seen our students at Stax Music Academy perform and they are amazing. But I think a lot of people don't know the full scope of the program and that's our fault. because we need to be out there talking about the things that we've accomplished. Stax Music Academy is a program of the Soulsville Foundation. It's an after-school and summer youth program. The foundation is a nonprofit. It is the parent organization for the museum and the music academy, but we also have an LLC, which is the... establish the charter for the Soulsville Charter School. So we get that question a lot of how they are separated. And so the foundation as far as our 990 goes is the Stax Museum and Stax Music Academy. But I want to talk a little bit about how Stax Music Academy pairs music education with mentorship, with workforce development, student support and opportunities that go far beyond the stage. Our request today is for 25,000. It's towards our largest expense, which is finding experienced people in their craft of music and people who want to be mentors because all of our staff knows that you have to be a mentor to be on our campus. It's very important because we have 750 kids who are on that campus Monday through Friday. Now, some of the facts on the Stax Music Academy is that the program's been around for 25 years, and it's working. It's working. In 2018, we put an emphasis of our students going to college, not because we think every student should go to college, but because we understood the way the music industry is changing so quickly. Two things that they needed was networks, and they also needed to understand how you make revenue in music when it's always changing. And so we put that emphasis on college. Today we have 93% of the academy kids going to college. We have 100% acceptance rate, but 93% are following through and going to college. of that 93%, 96% are completing college or are still enrolled today. So because we stay with our students until they're 25, that allows us to keep up with them and to help them over some of the hurdles that make a difference when A lot of our students are first-generation college, so they have a lot of questions, and their families have questions, and we can be there to help them since we're keeping that conversation open until 25 years and older. For some students, it's even past 25. Mm-hmm.

I will jump in really quickly and talk about our workforce development program. This came as a part of recognizing that along with teaching our students music business, we needed to teach them and give them the tools and tricks, but also the opportunity to take what they were learning in the music academy and turn it into real positions and jobs for them. I was very proud to say that it has been super successful since we started, I believe, in our 21st fiscal year. But just giving you a little bit of the accolades since then, we've had for this fiscal year alone 243 gig-based job placements, which since FY21 puts us at around 800-plus job placements. We've started offering our students entertainment industry level recognized credentials, and these are things like Adobe, Logic Pro X, Dante, to give you a little bit example of just how impactful this is. For example, we have students right now getting certified in Dante, for example, level two and level three levels. And for example, a position at St. Jude to even run a production sound, the only level you need is level one. And these are $65,000, $75,000 level jobs that our students are already working more than qualify for before they even leave our doors. We are also been able to offer our students work-based learning credit at the academy. And this allows them to get a grade for coming to the music academy, which can then go on their transcript and positively affect them there. And then for this fiscal year, We are starting an apprenticeship with Live Nation. If you do not know, there's a beautiful satellite building across the street from them that has been across the street from Crosstown that has been in construction for a little bit. But along with it being a performance venue, it will also serve as a place for our production students to actually practice their apprenticeship in real time and have a space that they can actually practice the craft.

So education-wise, those are the things that we provide our students. But I do want to speak to the thing that really is about building future Memphians. And SMA pairs along with music education and workforce development, social-emotional learning that focuses on character building, life skills. We also have mental wellness as a part of the program that recognizes the fact that depression and mental health issues are very prevalent in the creative sector, and we wanted to start building, helping the kids build psychological resilience early in life and still later.

So, this will come in here, but how many kids... The same thing, or is it a different category?

So it's not a completely different group. Some students stay with us. We have some students who've been there since sixth grade and they are ready for graduation. Then we have students who will come in and they may be with us for a couple of years and their priorities may change. Like we have a couple of students that are at Central and the Central Center. Central's been doing really good, and they have a lot more performances and everything, and so they couldn't do both. And Music Academy is about 150 students a year that are coming there at least twice a week. Then we also have... free programs that we do in the community. So we have about 7,000 kids within that. We have free workshops. We do a Stacks 101 that's beginning lessons that we offer for free in the neighborhood. And then we also have things that we're like live performances and us trying to create safe spaces for kids. So all of those things are free. So within the free things that we've got that are just available for Memphis kids who want someplace to go, that they can be kids and be safe and meet others and connect and everything, it's about 7,000 students. But in SMA proper that are there, if you come take a tour, it's about 150 kids that are there that are there at least twice a week. Oh, yes, Jonathan. And has turned that into theater. He learned how to use different sources of revenue. So all of that is important. I think that we've not come before the city council before and Yes, and taught. She also taught. So our challenge now is adding this workforce development piece. We've always really focused on performance, but teaching kids how to make a living in music and putting it under the workforce label because that's what they're doing. That's what they're... Oh, no. Yes. And he does a lot of things at the museum and has spoken to the kids at the academy. But this is just about the workforce piece and kids understanding that it's often seen that being in the music industry is, you know, that you're going to live a life of poverty if you're an artist, and that's not the case. But we need to make sure that they recognize where the revenue streams and also what are the jobs, because they just don't know all the connections that exist. So in the program itself, we're proud of the success that we've had, but it's really about us spreading the word about the success that we've had and being able to talk about what our students are accomplishing. I got to reach out to people. I'm going to have a phone tree when I leave here.

What are you talking about?

I'm going to add a little piece for you, just a fun fact on character building. Jonathan Lee and I went to Paris to represent the city for a documentary that was about stacks. And on the way there, they lost his luggage. He was making multiple performances and he didn't have his clothes. And Most people would have had a breakdown. He was so cool, calm, and collective about it. He said, it's just another day. I'll get through today. Let's go buy me something just to wear, and I'll wear it over again if I have to. But his attitude about it is one of the reasons why he has been such a success in the program. That character-building piece matters. And I'm sure your church had a role in that, too. But it matters.

It's a million and ten dollars critical.

So thank you guys, and thanks for considering our ask.

Yes, thank you. Oh, you got a question? You got a... Yes.

Oh, and Dini was coming to you, I'm sure.

Yeah, so hey, that was the beginning. And y'all have done so well in five years. So my colleagues is listening. Y'all better get your money together for those young ladies. Yeah, I like it. We all did. I was beginning. All of them, I'm old.

It's the only one of its kind in the world. In the world.

And so then I can go all the way back to the fact.

When it was stacks.

And you know, a lot of people, when he came down to Isaac Hayes, they were not singers, they were writers. Okay? When he closed, he became a singer. That's right, you know, he was on the song, you know, but he was a writer. He was about six years old. I can go way back when I'm old. Keep it up, okay? Thank you.

Thank you, everyone. Thank you all.

Kenneth Price, Jr., Foundation. Play the replay. What year did he come out of Ridgeway?

What year did he come out of Ridgeway? Never made it.

Never made it. Okay, tell me about it. Where did he start?

He started Ridgeway in 2018, I think. IMO. Maybe 2013.

Dennis Price Jr. Is Henning still over there?

Huh?

Is Henning still over there?

No, Henning.

Who's the coach now?

I have no idea. Me either. No, Henning left a few years ago. But he was there when D.J.

passed. He started in 2010?

He was there three years, two and a half years. He passed away until after what year? 16 years old. He had just had a boy, a close friend that summer.

How many inches did he run? Like three. So when I was playing, Daddy Jean said at the end of our bench, it was like six foot. Came back with six six.

Man, that's great.

He didn't sit on the bench no more. But DJ didn't care what size he was, man.

Yes.

Hi, my name is Tracy Price, co-founder and executive director for the Dennis Price Jr. Foundation. Sitting with me is my husband, Dennis Price Sr., our president. In memory of our son, Dennis DJ Price Jr., we help Memphis youth thrive with dignity. Since 2023, we have served more than 3,000 children. DJ's Care Closet now operates at Ridgeway Middle, Westwood Middle High, Jeter K-8, and Fairleigh High School. These discreet spaces provide uniforms, shoes, socks, undergarments, coats, hygiene, and hair products, backpacks, school supplies. Essentials that can mean the difference between staying home in embarrassment and entering class confident and ready to learn. DJ's Care Closet supplies children with everything they need to be a successful student. Cover Her Heart is another program under our foundation. It supports young ladies in health and wellness education, dignity kits, hygiene resources, self-care guides, and family support. By meeting basic needs, our program reduces absenteeism. and truancy while keeping young people connected to school and caring adults because truancy can be an early warning sign for delinquency and daytime crime. Improving attendance is both in education and crime prevention strategy. Council members, we respectfully ask for $33,000 and your partnership in advocacy to keep our four care closets stocked, expand into more schools, cover her heart to more young ladies, and address preventable causes of truancy. This is more than purchasing supplies. It is an investment in attendance. achievement, health, dignity, crime prevention, and safer communities. Every day a student returns to class is another day that a child is supported and moving towards a brighter future. Thank you for your service to Memphis. Please stand with us, help us help our children, and carry DJ's legacy of compassion throughout our city. It's free to the students at that particular school. Yes, there is a guideline that the family engagement has to go by. How many uniforms, hygiene supplies that they get every, well, uniforms every quarter and hygiene and school supplies and other supplies they can go in every month and get what they need.

How do you all go about getting these supplies?

We got approved. We got a partnership with Memphis Shelby County Schools. So we are able to go into any school and open up DJ's Care Closet. We normally get a referral to go and speak with a principal and a family engagement specialist to see if we will be a good fit for that school. What's that?

Y'all been telling me about how much money y'all need.

I said $33,000. We operate on about $120,000. Yes, we raise money throughout the community. We have a private grant and fundraising. And the video you saw is actually the care closet located in Westwood High School. Okay.

Can I say something? Yes.

Yes. Yes.

Absolutely.

Thank you. Thank you. He said, we got a list, actually. The school gave us a list. When we first started, it was 187 students.

Oh wow, yeah.

I was actually working with his dad. I was actually working with his dad, and we were trying to change the law, which actually had passed going before the Congress, and when he passed, so we didn't get to, I don't know if anybody else is going to try to help move it along, but Back to what we were talking about.

So I asked Mr. Price, I said, I asked the question, how did his son pass? And I wanted to come closer because I didn't know he was comfortable sharing. Go ahead.

DJ passed away from an undiagnosed heart condition, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. He was 16 years old, 6'4", solid muscle. He wasn't sick, ill, or anything. He went home, went to bed, went to sleep, didn't wake up. So that... got me, my mind going and everything. And with all these athletes dropping dead in the summer in football field or whatever, I contacted Le Bonheur. Well, a doctor contacted me. We were looking for each other. It's a process, but we're trying to change the physicals for the student athletes in Memphis Shepherd County Schools. And like I was just saying before, I was working with Mr. Hardaway's son. I mean, his father went about all this. It was called DJ's Law, and it was going to be a state law. And unfortunately, I don't know where we are with that. Yeah. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. So he was just a good kid, man. And I told him he was going to be here longer after I'm gone. And this is where we are.

Thank you. Please don't speak to Representative Hardaway over there. Okay. All right. Memphis 13. Oh, yeah, I got that one on there.

Mike Chet, can you hear me well?

Mike Chet, like you know what you're doing.

Okay, I kind of do. Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Dr. Gina Tillis, and I am the Director of Curriculum for the Memphis 13 Foundation. This year marks the 65th anniversary of school desegregation here in Memphis City by 13 courageous five- and six-year-olds. And we're here to ask for you all to invest $40,000 in our Memphis 13 Change Agents Community Library Initiative, wherein we bring approximately 400 students to their neighborhood library. They get to learn about the living history, the living legacy of the Memphis 13. They engage in literacy. and they learn about what it takes to be courageous members, compassionate members of your community. This initiative not only brings the students to the library, but we feed them. We talk about what's going on in our schools and how to be change agents, how to be leaders in your community, how to lead with kindness and compassion and courage. So that's why I'm here for our ask. Since our establishment in 2022, we have served approximately 38,000 people in various capacities at different community forums, churches, schools, and whatnot. For like around 50 different types of events and appearances. We have collectively created curriculum units for our Memphis Shelby County Schools, so we work with the community to create curriculum. Those curriculum units are a part of our Memphis Shelby County Schools, and we have provided paid professional development for our teachers. Yes? Yeah, so there are four different schools. Bruce is one of them. Bruce is one of them. And so I'm here just to represent and say that we are seeking funds for now our Change Agents Community Libraries Initiative. So we're trying to get our students to the library and learn about the living legacy of the Memphis 13.

Students, are you talking about, is it in partnership with Memphis Shelby County Schools? Correct, correct. No questions for me. I mean, Memphis 13, that's our history. We don't do a good job of teaching it, so somebody got to do it.

Well, yeah, that's why we're here.

Absolutely.

Okay.

Thank you. Thank you for your work. Remember what your homework is going to be, right?

Yeah. Call, text, send a Facebook, face message. Man, listen, slide into the DMs. Yeah, slide into the DMs, all that. Thank you. Thank you.

I appreciate you. Thank you, Doc. Hey, man, how you doing? I'm going to counsel me. I'll call you right back. Counsel, give me. Yeah, I might stop by. OK. I appreciate you. Bye-bye.

Can I answer the call from Mayor Molder? Come on down. Oh, gold and black. Y'all are. Respectfully. Respectfully. Your turn. Your turn. Talk to me, Jeff.

Y'all should have brought Mark Tavis with you. He helped us with that. Yeah, he was our first ask.

That's what. That's my favorite cue. Your favorite cue.

Give me, give me a cue.

Go ahead, fellas. Yes, sir. My name is Joshua Smith. I'm the vice president of the Uplift Memphis. I'm here with the president, Brother Dennis Smalls. We also have several of our fellow other members of the board with us. Which one? So we are here coming to you all asking for, excuse me, let me start off. We are located at 152 East.

There go another one of y'all.

We all over here.

I know what this is now. I got it. I got it. I got it.

Yeah. Yeah. We're here.

I feel like I'm surrounded. I get it. Go ahead, fellas.

We are located at 152 East McKellar Avenue. We are part of, of course, City Council District 6 and Council Super District 8. And so we are coming here. We are coming before you all looking for some additional financial support.

The Uplift Memphis is really based on and really stood on the understanding that

The only way to invest in your community and uplift your community is by investing into the people. And so we have a very strong focus around the youth, several different youth programs that we've put together as far as including everything from scholarship programs. We have a lamp lighters program that we also support where we teach young men and mentor young men in the community and make sure that they... they have all of the skills that they need and that they are getting a positive impact and a positive example as far as how to operate as men. Our youth development program is where we give a lot of those kind of leadership skills. We teach young men how to tie their ties, how to wear suits, how to present, all those things, and making sure that you provide a kind of strong base and strong foundation for them. We also have several scholarship programs. A scholarship program that we provide on an annual basis that's funded. Currently, right now, we receive some funds through the...

What's the funding ask? Like how much you're asking this body for?

So right now we're right about $20,000. $20,000.

Y'all hear that?

Hold on, hit your mic.

Make sure they hear you, Councilman. Hit your mic. Make sure they hear you.

They know I talk loud. Y'all hear that, don't you? Get it together.

So the request is for $20,000, and just briefly hit on how the $20,000 will be used. Will it go to support scholarships, or will it go to support the men who are mentoring some of the young men in the community? Yes, sir.

The ask is to support our scholarship. We do a scholarship, like I said, every year. We actually did, a couple of months ago, awarded eight scholarships to high school seniors, and it also will go toward our youth initiatives. We have the Manhood Project, and we also have a youth group, which is Omega Lamplighters. So also, we do a neighborhood cleanup in the, because we're in the Mallory Heights subdivision, Oh, we know. I know exactly where y'all are. Yeah. So this is what we're asking for these funds. Like I said, this is our first ask of the city council. And Mark Tavis did ask us to put this grant together to come in and present to you all.

Yeah, I should have told Mark Tavis it takes everybody. Because a lot of council members value his excellent council member. Excellent council member. Ryan, what you think? Keep up the good work, gentlemen. Appreciate the work y'all are doing in the community, particularly in South Memphis neighborhoods. Appreciate y'all, man. Appreciate you. That's a good man over there. All right, man. Appreciate you. What I've told every single person that came before this body, The most important time as it relates to funding is between now and Tuesday. Council members are supposed to allocate at least 75% of their grant funds between now and Tuesday. Consistently reach out to them. You all have networks. If you send an email, do not consider that as a contact. You need FaceTime. You need to talk to them on the phone. If you can't reach them, reach out to some of their assistants. Call their cousins, their mamas. They're going to answer the phone for their mama or their wife. like reach out to everybody yes all right so thank y'all keep up the good work fellas thank you All right, the floor is yours. This is not court.

She's ready to litigate. I know, people want me to play lawyer. But I did see you in court, and I wanted to ask you about a case. So I'll catch you at the office. My name's Jamie Johnson. I'm the executive director of Memphis Public Interest Law Center, which is a nonprofit public interest law center formed to fill the gap in legal services in the Memphis area. We are the only civil legal organization in the community that focuses on renters and rental housing that is designed to do advocacy in addition to additional legal representation.

What do I do? Push it? It's green. I'll just move it.

Okay. Okay. Only civil legal organization in the region, possibly in the state, designed to do advocacy work, to approach legal services in a grassroots way, and currently to focus on rental housing and renters.

Now I understand why you were making the question.

Yeah, it was a property thing. So people often think of legal aid, and we are similar to more traditional legal aid nonprofit public interest law firms, but we are different in that we take a community lawyering approach to legal services, which means that in addition to traditional caseload and legal representation, which is one of our activities, and positive outcomes are one of our goals, that is embedded in the larger goal of using legal advocacy to address systemic issues and to build community capacity to advocate for themselves. So what that means on the ground is right now, since we're focused on rental housing, the project is called the Housing Project. It's a legal advocacy project. We use research, education, and advocacy in and out of the courtroom to do that. So we have a hotline that allows us to get legal services. We have a website. We obviously get calls and emails and texts. But we also are working with statewide advocates to build a coalition to talk about policy campaigns. We're trying to build local coalitions. We have brought a national exhibition about eviction here. We have produced things. We have done tenant-centered surveys where we want to hear from the renters. One thing that is unique about our work is that it's renter-centered. So we want to hear from renters specifically about the barriers they are facing, not from people in corner offices or in academia, which is an important expertise. But if we don't know what they are telling us their problems are and if we don't see it every day, then the solutions or the interventions that we are investing in may not be responsive. We can't do lobbying. We do not have a C4. But they're there you know you you may know this it's pretty technical so we can invest in education and research around policy and Promote the policies that we believe will help housing security not Yeah, and we have to keep educating ourselves on what that means because as we grow it has not happened overnight. It is not fast work But we So we have a statewide coalition. It has taken us five years to build. I'm here today because as a part of that statewide coalition that has taken us years, we finally had a tenant work group convened. I was able, after years of trying to get several Memphis renters to take time off of work, to come with me and to voice their concerns, which are different than people in Middle Tennessee and East Tennessee and the rural areas. And everyone came together. And we started talking about a policy campaign and sharing stories. And we are now meeting regularly to build an activity and an action around state policy. It also catalyzed a conversation about local practices and policies. And those renters came back after and started emailing me, one of whom sent me this grant. And they want to do things here. And so education has always been a component of all of our program areas and all of our program activities. But we are also pivoting a lot because the work we do is iterative. So the more we hear from renters, the more we shift what we're doing. My legal services change only in the sense that I become more strategic. The toolkit of a lawyer is still the toolkit of a lawyer. But I become strategic within cases and how I take the aggregate of cases to impact educating the court. Not just for that renter, but I'm bringing a case. Every time I bring a case, even if it's an uphill battle, I'm educating a landlord. I'm educating an attorney. I'm educating a court. But one thing that we are pivoting now to in this application is in recent presentations and in the statewide convening and in talking to the renters after that, they are more engaged than they've been in several years. I do not know why at work now. What they told me very clearly in that meeting is, yeah, policy is important, and yes, we want to do this and we'll keep showing up. But in Memphis anyway, education, education, education. So while it has been a core part of our work, what I have now is renters who are – showing up again and again, sending me grant applications, sending me social media ideas, showing up to Canvas. And so while education has always been there, I think it is time for us to shift a little, invest in that not just as a program component of all the other activities we do, but to invest in that program and get a local leader who's interested and has shown an aptitude um to work with the group we already have continue building that and to do outreach so what the dollars would be used for is to build that person's skill set to go out into the community continue the work of hearing from renters gathering data so we can publish reports like what's going with habitability disseminate our renters rights booklets that are geared towards not how lawyers talk and think but how how renters think continue doing that building them engaging them more In the long term, we believe it will build trust in our civic infrastructure and engagement with that so that we, not overnight, but over time, have more engagement. But even in the short term, we are providing information because what we hear in our legal calls, what we hear in our community presentations, what we hear from the renters who engaged, and we've tried stops and starts many times over many years, is we didn't know. We need to know more before we can do any of the rest of the stuff. So I was surprised to find that there was a passion for it in such... pointed um clarity in my mind as a lawyer we do policy work and we we do all this infrastructure but the renters told me this is what they wanted and came to me and asked for this so what we're asking the city to do is invest in us building this program and then the data that we can use and then the people that are this program so we can learn and keep pivoting but keep doing the work and growing this took me you know four years to get to even though it was one of my first ideas This took me a year to get to. It's now in Spanish and English, so it takes time, but I think we're on the right path, and in all of our program areas, we're getting really good outcomes. They are harder to measure outside of legal caseload, so I can use, you know, 90% favor, mm-hmm. I don't have a title yet. Thus far, I have called it an organizer. I mean, there are different models for organizing, and as I get further into this as a lawyer, what I'm learning is there's mobilizing, there's advocacy, there's mobilizing around issues. I think organizing is the discipline that I most believe is... accurate for this because you were building people. It is in the same way that our community lawyering model says, sure, this is my toolkit, but it's embedded in addressing system issues and it's embedded in building community. I do believe that the community organizing model is the one where you go out and you engage them and you give them something, but you also say, come with me. Let's do this together. Let's use our collective voice. Not recently. We way back worked with her. I remember that. I think I talked to her, too, and I have some questions. The legal stuff was super interesting. I'm dying to know more when you walk out. I need to check beyond.

I'm good. How about you?

All right, I'm here.

Okay. I see you. You're doing all right. Good. Okay. Well, thank you for listening to me today. I want to introduce my nonprofit, Melanie Mosley. Okay, it's Melanie Mosley, and the name of my nonprofit is Workforce Economic Community Solutions. And basically what I do is I have my own business, which is Mosley Tax and Accounting Service, located in the Southbrook Town Center. And I would also like to incorporate working with my nonprofit in my business. in my office. So that's why I'm here to ask for 25,000. And when you see the occupancy cost to ask what they, would you split half of what I currently pay for rent? Um, I'm currently also on the White Haven Leadership Committee, and we work a lot with the students in the White Haven area, and you have some very exceptional, smart students in that community. So basically, what our nonprofit wants to do is expand that and give them the materials or resources that they need to continue to be successful. Our long-term goal is to work with remediation and enrichment for K-12 students in White Haven. We want to do an after-school program and provide intervention for K-6 students. But right now, what we're currently doing is working with students for TCAP, ACT, and SAT preparation. And we would like to continue doing that, and we also offer parents assistance as far as needed. Our team's knowledge of the education system and knowledge of training has allowed us to be able to redefine the current state of education and strategize on how to better improve student participation, learning abilities in their classrooms. So just like I said, provide support services and resources for the students in Whitehaven. Be the premier Whitehaven resource center. And also I would like to say too, I work for city government for About 20 years, I did 10 years in workforce. Councilman Ford, you were on the board when I worked in workforce, and you know we did an excellent job. So I would just like to take my skills and expand it. Dr. Harrington, Harrington. Well, wait a minute now.

Right this season.

So from 2002 to 2014, I believe. High school, college.

So, yes. See, he said right this season. Right this season.

Okay. So we did an excellent job running workforce at that time. And again, like I said, I would like to... So my ask is $25,000, and that's to cover a portion of my lease in my current office. And then I also have asking for $10,000 for professional services because we have some PhDs and accredited school teachers working with us. And I listed on there a fractional CAO and a fractional manager because they only work with us part-time. So if we can afford to give them something. Also, I asked for a laptop and a computer. And then a balance was to go towards the utilities and internet service.

I guess before you have any questions, we're good. Thank you. You're going to get homework, right?

Yes, sir.

All right. We've got about 100 more. I'm trying to get you out of here.

Good afternoon. My name is Jonathan Whitehead and I'm the co-founder here at Steadfast Haven. Our mission is to empower the youth through the arts. Similar to a Sowsville with music, we want to do that through photography and videography. We were founded in 2023 and we have successfully uplifted and created a film club. Within this film club, we provide a safe space for the youth to come to share, create their stories. We are here today to ask for $25,000 to be able to provide mentorship, also be able to provide our supplies and everything that we need to help these kids. We have currently worked with other nonprofit organizations like Protect Our Archive on their toxic tours. We've worked with Fairleigh High School, East High School, Anointed Temple of Praise, the Baptist Church. We've also worked with Crosstown High School. And we basically want to create a central location within District 6 as well, a central location to be able to have these kids come to learn how to operate a camera, as well as how to financially benefit from that camera. Now, within that, we also want to teach these kids essential life skills, things like how to increase your credit score, what to do when you get pulled over, certain things like this we would like to help the kids with. Beside me, I have Attorney Banks here, and he's going to further talk about the analytics of what we would do and how we would use it, as well as the meaning behind this. Thank you.

Good afternoon. I really didn't want to talk so much about the analytics. I want to be brief and address why I think the city of Memphis should support. I'm a poor boy from Mississippi. but Memphis was my big city growing up. We came up here to shop, to explore big city life. So I'm a poor boy from Mississippi, and I saw a lot of money given to poor people in Mississippi, but most of those people are still poor. What I learned in my life is that if you really wanna empower a community, You educate those people in that community. Frederick Douglass said, education makes a man unfit to be a slave. So we can throw money at all the problems in our community. I get that. I wish we had all the money we could throw at the folks and help them. In the end, we have to educate our people. That's what I saw Brunson Worthy walking around. When I was at Whitehaven High School, I said, Brunson, go to Brenda Belt. When I saw Justin Pearson on TV, I remember when I was at Mitchell, I said, Justin, why you went to Bolton College? He said, because you told me. I have dedicated 20 years in this community to educating our youth. I sent this young man to college when he was 11th grade. I sent other young men in his program to college when they were 10th, 11th grade. I've sent hundreds of kids to colleges when I was part of Memphis City School. Yes, I'm an attorney myself. What I'm asking this counselor to do is provide this young man and his organization with the money to help them go out into the community and encourage other young people, obey the law, get an education. We can wash them up, clean them up, we can encourage them, and we can do everything in the world, but he's an example of what we want our youth to be. Educate yourself. Obey the law. Stay in the community. He goes to University of Memphis. He graduated from Memphis University School. Stay in the community. Be a positive force in the community. Don't go to drugs and alcohol and crime. No. Get some education. We're not going to just feed you. We're going to teach you how to feed yourself. That's what I want to see the city of Memphis do. Provide this young man and his organization with some funds because they're going to stay here. They're gonna stay here and buy houses, raise their family, and put taxes back in this community. So if we empower him today, you got 40, 50 more years of this young man helping this community and his cohorts to help this community because you can let your tax base leave or you can encourage your tax base to stay. I wanna see you all encourage this. I'm an attorney. I'm doing very well. I came up out of poverty in Mississippi Delta, Shaw, Mississippi. I wanna see you all help this young man do what I've done, become self-sufficient. Thank you.

As Meredith said, that's where my husband's from.

Shaw, Mississippi. Okay.

And in closing, we actively have 130 volunteers right now. We work biweekly. We are self-funded. We have two locations that we host our film club. Yes, sir. Oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I appreciate the time that we have. Thank you, sir. Thank you.

I know. She's a superhero.

I have a nerve stimulator.

Good afternoon, and thank you for the opportunity to be here. My name is Effie Igor Coleman, and I serve on the board of MidtownMemphis.org and chair of our Shade is Cool committee. I'm joined today by our board president, Emily Bishop. MidtownMemphis.org serves approximately 30,000 residents in Memphis. Our mission is to invest in the places where people gather, create, and grow. Our South Willette Corridor project between Lamar and Southern in historic Rozelle-Ansdale puts this mission into action. Our initial inventory identified more than 50 hazardous trees, invasive species, and significant gaps in the tree canopy. Residents have experienced tree failures affecting homes, property, and power lines. And in a neighborhood where many residents rent or live in inherited family properties, the cost of addressing these conditions privately can be significantly out of reach. The stakes are big. Approximately 1,000 people live in Rozelle-Ansdale, and Rozelle Elementary serves about 230 students. Many residents walk to school, work, groceries, and public transit, often along damaged and incomplete sidewalks. I know this because I live in this neighborhood myself. In Memphis, shade is not just about beautification, it is infrastructure. Our solution is to remove hazardous trees and invasive species, preserve healthy mature trees, restore the canopy, support pollinators and urban wildlife even though squirrels are very annoying sometimes, and establish long-term stewardship in partnership with the Ra's al Anzal Area Association, Tennessee Urban Forestry Council, Ra's al Elementary, and MLG&W. We see this as economic development. We want to hire Memphis-based arborists, landscapers, nurseries, and contractors so these dollars circulate locally while connecting young people to environmental science and hands-on stewardship and inspire future career pathways. We believe sustained investment can also strengthen the surrounding Lamar corridor, bringing vacant and deteriorating properties back into productive use, expanding home ownership opportunities, and supporting long-term neighborhood stability while ensuring existing residents benefit from that growth. We anticipate approximately 1,400 hours of that work and impact reaching roughly 5,000 people. This project is estimated at $34,775. We've already raised $14,775 and are requesting $20,000 from the city council. As the work develops, additional capacity would allow us to respond to conditions we uncover and fully realize the impact of this investment. Our goal is simple. Cooler streets, safer properties, stronger local businesses, youth empowerment and a neighborhood that visibly communicates that this place and its people are worth investing it because we are. Thank you so much and thank you for your time and consideration.

No questions?

Well, we're looking forward to, you know, Cooper Young and Becca have had wonderful success on their sidewalk replacement initiatives, and Rozelle Ansdale needs...

Yes. And it's a beautiful, wonderful neighborhood with great people. And we just want to make sure that they get the support they need that we get the support we need. Thank you for your time.

We look forward to your investment.

While I'm here, and I'll call you later.

We've been doing our homework all day.

Thank you so much, dear chairwoman and chairman and councils. My name is Rona and I am the one of the apprentice and also supervisor at Ashes Refuge. Ashes Refuge, I would like to also introduce

Good afternoon, my name is Janelle Macklin. I'm one of the executive board members. I'm here to represent our founder and co-founder, Jamie Jones and Deborah Eaton.

ASHA's Refuge serving Memphis since 2008, and it was established as a 501 in 2010. As of 2008, we have served at least more than 3,200 families and individuals. And currently, we have at least more than 275 active individuals, newcomers who are being served throughout our different services that we provide. Through the love of Christ, we help families move toward stability, self-sufficiency, and meaningful participation in our community. Our apprenticeship program is a program that we are training newcomers to serve newcomers. I am one of those newcomers. And our newcomers, as they are learning from professionals and volunteers, different professional services and such as translations, advocacy, legal help. We have been worked with different legal organizations such as Community Legal Center, Advocacy for Immigrant Rights and Will Thornton Law Firm. We are connecting the newcomers to the attorneys and our job is basically to prepare the newcomers for the attorney because they don't know the language, they don't know how the system works, and they need somebody, a friend, to be advocating for them. And we are that advocate, we are that friend, we are that family member that they trust us and they can... call us anytime they need us. We are helping them to process their immigration services such as green card and eventually citizenship because the resettlement agency only helped the newcomers for 90 days and the 90 day is not enough for individuals to be soul sufficient to integrate into the society. I would like Ms. General to go.

So we're asking the city for a $60,000 investment into OSHAs. $40,000 would be to support staffing. It is important. This is a people-powered organization, and you need staff to maintain operational stability. The other funds, the other $20,000 would be investment into operational ongoing, such as training, the occupancy fee, technology, and the like. I do want to raise awareness. We have a growing community of asylum seekers and refugees. And although we know that funding is drying up in the immigration space, because that's a hot topic right now, the need still exists. In White Haven, Westwood, you know that there's a growing African community that's there across the entire city. So no, we're not in Super District 8 or in District 6, but the people that we service are across the city. And so we would need your support across the council to help continue the work that OSHA provides and has provided for the past 15 years. Thank you.

I think currently ASHA's Refuge supports at least representatives and families from 32 countries with at least 50 languages that we translate actively. Each apprentice are multilingual and they speak different languages. Sorry.

About how many people you all serve?

Currently, actively, at least 275 and more families and individuals, newcomers that we are serving in this area. And from 2008, at least more than 3,200 individuals.

Have you seen an uptick recently? Have you seen an uptick since?

Yes.

Things are happening?

Yes, definitely, yes. And we are getting ready for that. But unfortunately, because of funding, we had to pause some of the position of our apprentice. Right now, the whole office is running with only three apprentices that we are serving these newcomers in Memphis.

Okay, cool. And then... Do y'all help when it comes to housing? Because you had the Memphis Public Interest Law Firm here. You may want to connect with them too, because they do a lot of community work around housing.

We partner with different organizations, even though we don't have housing to house people, but we are connecting them with those organizations who help them.

All right, make sure. I think there's a lot of groups in the city that try to support communities in these. So just make sure you're doing a good job of partnering. But I'm going to support you. Keep up the good work.

Thank you so much.

All right.

Thank you.

Thank you. Who's next? I done lost my paper. Maine up Memphis. I love that. Then Taste of Aviation. Last two.

I appreciate you. He's with me. I'm sorry. That's my bodyguard. That's my husband. That's how you are.

Yeah. Absolutely.

Come on, Taylor. All right, y'all. Thank you.

I'm the face of aviation.

I'm just seeing friends that I've people who are out here that I've been working with for years and years. I was working with this organization years ago. Of course, thank you.

It's a long time support. Taste of aviation, yes. Grand finale.

All right. Absolutely.

Good afternoon, esteemed members of Memphis City Council. My name is Zakiya Langford. I am the Secretary of Taste of Aviation. Our president, Thelma Rudd, is in Chicago at an aviation conference. So she's representing Memphis and the larger aviation community. We're asking you to invest, and we do have a presentation that I emailed over, and we also have a paper. The paper. Okay. Okay.

Taste of Aviation.

Okay, yeah, Taste of Aviation, it's an organization that started in 2014. The president was the third black woman to become an air traffic controller in the city of Memphis. And so she's very devoted to the aviation community. And the goal is to bring aviation to children throughout the city of Memphis. So we posted 25, our signature program is called the Saturday Flight School. This is when we bring the students together and we tell them about aviation careers and also promote literacy. Over the years it's been over 1,000. I would say within a year it's about 200. We do... It's generally about three, we do three to four activities per year. And yeah, it'll be for a full day on a Saturday. Yes. We're asking for $11,000. Yeah. They come from all over the city. We have done activities in multiple areas. We've done East High, Lamo and Owen, North Frazier Community Center, Raleigh Community Center, Southwest Community Center. And so it's generally going to be people in those areas. Are any of them? So we have, there's... Yeah, well, there's actually, it's called Team Memphis. We partner with the Memphis Shelby County Airport Authority, OBAP, the Memphis Blackhawks, the Tuskegee Airmen, Women in Aviation, and the Luke Weathers Flight Academy. Yes, sir.

All right.

I think you're the only aviation group that came.

All right. Fantastic. Thank you. We appreciate your support.

All right.

We adjourn. Council members, if you're still listening, stop.