Pay-what-you-can juice bar fuels South Memphis
All items on the menu at this juice bar are $5, but no one is turned away from a healthy meal because of their inability to pay.
Soulsville
Soulsville is one piece of the greater South Memphis area and is arguably one of greatest neighborhoods for fostering music talent. Aretha Franklin, Maurice White, David Porter, Memphis Slim, and Memphis Minnie called Soulsville home while dozens of others made their mark on music history at the Stax and Royal recording studios. While the original Stax studio was demolished, its legacy lives on in the Stax Museum of American Soul and Stax Music Academy. Soulsville is also home to LeMoyne Owen College, Memphis’ only historically Black college.
Play Where You Stay activates neighborhood parks, breaks down barriers for inner-city soccer players
Nonprofit Play Where You Stay identifies unused spaces in neighborhoods that can be improved with some sweat equity and turned into soccer fields. The program recruits neighborhood children interested in playing the sport and pays its college-age coaches a living wage.
Music professionals prep STAX Academy students for industry careers
M.I.C. Check, a free music industry career fair for students, presented by STAX Music Academy along with Memphis Music Initiative and Ty Boyland Consulting, featured about a dozen music industry veterans in areas such as production, tech, media, entertainment law and publicity.
Brooks Museum’s mural project takes classic art to the streets of Memphis
The public art exhibit that crosses Memphis neighborhoods from Orange Mound to Frayser does more than anything before to break down the barriers between the Brooks Museum and the community it serves or, as even some fans might point out, underserves.
South Memphis is an incubator for pedestrian improvements under national initiative
As part of the Memphis Big Jump project, the city is re-surfacing and re-designing multiple streets in South Memphis while promoting bicycling as a means of transportation. Nearly one-third of residents lack access to a personal vehicle.
More funding needed to sustain grassroots community development projects
While many community members and organizations often have great ideas for community development projects, the reality is there is not enough money available to fund everyone's vision. Last year, Community LIFT’s Empowerment Fund paved the way for improvement and beautification projects across the city, but a new study shows that much more funding is needed to keep momentum from those projects moving forward.
The City’s latest MWBE inclusion numbers show growth & minority-owned business accelerator kicks off
Propel, a business accelerator for existing minority-owned businesses, is launching its next cohort in the midst of several new city-backed initiatives intended to boost the wealth and diversity of the Memphis economy.
Community LIFT grants lead to grassroots neighborhood development
Community cohesion is the focus for Community Lift as it begins the application process for this year’s round of micro-grants for its Empowerment Fund, now in its second year.
Memphis Public Libraries use Readbox to build awareness
A new guerilla marketing campaign popping up around town from the Memphis Public Libraries (MPL) is helping to build awareness of the diverse and growing range of free programs offered at local public libraries.
The Making of Memphis Rox: South Memphis’ massive rock climbing gym
Hollywood and Soulsville intersect at Memphis Rox, a newly opened climbing gym that gives back to the South Memphis community.
