The Heights

The Heights is a collection of neighborhoods — Highland Heights, Mitchell Heights, Graham Heights, and others — located roughly between Tillman and Graham Streets to the east and west and Jackson and Summer Avenues to the north and south. It’s predominantly working class with modest homes, young families, and many senior residents. The area was first developed in the early 1900s and boomed as Summer Avenue grew into a major Memphis thoroughfare. Today it’s one of the most ethnically diverse areas the city, with business owners and families from more than 30 different countries.  Join us for our in-depth coverage of The Heights from September to December 2018.

How this local CDC is looking to slow down traffic and speed up investment in The Heights

“The Corners is a design change along the Heights Line route. It’s meant to be more of a lingering space — kind of like a gathering public space, as opposed to a path,” says Dane Forlines, director of special projects for the Heights Community Development Corporation.

Heights CDC Special Projects Director Dane Forlines said the new bioswale will improve water quality in the neighborhood and beyond. (Reginald Johnson)
Environmental Justice: Safer streets, cleaner water in the Heights

“[Cleaning up stormwater] improves the quality of water people drink, it improves the quality of air people breathe,” says Dane Forlines, Special Projects Director for the Heights CDC. “It also beautifies the public space, which cannot be understated.”

Transit Equity Day events are scheduled for Feb 1-4, 2022 in Memphis.
Public invited to Transit Equity Day events, online and in-person Feb 1-4
Mural by Jamond Bullocks in Frayser, part of Urban Art Commission's "Stand Up for Our Streets" project in 2019. (submitted)
Visual artists: Apply by Feb 18 to work with High Ground!
PRIZM Ensemble executive director Gavin Wigginson (submitted)
PRIZM Ensemble’s new leader helps kids explore social issues through music
Artist James Harton poses next to his sculpture of an ostrich. (Leigh Tatum)
Unique sculptures encourage library patrons to learn and create
Monterrion Webber makes a cup of coffee for a patron of Cxffeeblack at the Anti-Gentrification Coffee Club #1, located at 751 National Street in The Heights. (Ziggy Mack)
Cxffeeblack serves its brew with a side of history and anti-gentrification
The vacant barber shop at 769 National Street was topped with a sign made from repurposed Christmas lights and the boards that once shuttered the windows. (Markus Mueller)
What have these Heights organizations been up to since 2018?
Christina Crutchfield with Heights CDC cuts the ribbon on the new Gaisman Park Arboretum. Chris Collier stands far left and Sheryl Sullivan stands far left. (Cole Bradley)
Ribbon cutting on Gaisman Park Arboretum marks another milestone in a community-led revival
Drew Joyner and partners Octavius Nickson and Chris Hendrix of Nickson General Contractors purchased the 11-bay retail center at the southeast corner of Summer and National Street in May. They're now updating the exterior. (Cole Bradley)
What’s happening on Summer Avenue?

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