This week, we heard from our transition team members about the strategies, programs, and initiatives they recommend for our city's continued forward growth. They were charged with finding ways to activate and actualize the community-focused pillars that I ran on and believe should shape our strategies for creating a stronger Memphis. And they did not disappoint.
Our community’s needs are the north star for our administration. I have said it before, but I have assembled a staff of innovators and strategists who are excited about serving the people of our community and the Transition Team members are equally engaged.
Our transition team of 129 volunteers donated their time and energy to create meaningful recommendations for how we can govern differently and better. These teams worked diligently to create something more than a report to be read once and filed away. They helped to create a framework of evidence-based and community-focused guideposts for our administration to use as we react and respond to our community.
The overall vibe from these teams was hopeful - they spoke about a city whose chief export was culture, they spoke about a city with the talent to do more, and their insights and suggested strategies for Memphis were strong.
In total, they presented 36 recommendations with 100+ supporting documents, links, and references. They engaged focus groups, including youth-centered groups. They reached out to peer cities and organizations across the country and polled hundreds of local-area residents.
Some of the suggestions have already been enacted - such as creating open community forums with opportunities for community members to engage with the city administration and city services. Some were more future-thinking - like using AI, software, tech, and smart-city solutions to better connect businesses and residents with services and resources or drones to aid public safety and anti-blight efforts. And many of their recommendations were capacity and community wealth-enhancing wins like wrap-around services to create a small-business ecosystem where those offering back-office services are matched with emerging businesses needing those services, strengthening both and ultimately growing each sector.
There were recommendations to add staff to oversee transportation, sustainability, arts and culture, and public safety, and multiple recommendations were echoed by several subcommittees, many of which dealt with youth, transit, workforce development, and the Memphis 3.0 anchors.
An obvious through-line for all of the recommendations was that they put the PEOPLE of Memphis first and they reduced existing silos.
While these are not an exhaustive list of everything we will prioritize as an administration, we are super proud of their results and can't wait to get to work bringing many of these recommendations to life.
Read the full Transition Team Report by clicking the image above or by clicking here.
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