Weekly Update

Friends,

 

The power of stepping in, lending a helping hand, and giving hope to someone who needs it should never be taken for granted.

Every day, we’re working as hard as we can at city government to try and make lives better.

As I’ve mentioned in this space before, our administration and the City Council created two re-entry programs—one for men (Manhood University) and one for women (Women Offering Women Support). Individuals who want to turn their lives around go through a six-week course, and we work to place them in a job.

In 2019, 364 men enrolled in our Manhood program with 303 graduating and 131 placed in jobs. For our WOWS program, we had 80 participants enrolled, 76 graduated, and 11 placed in jobs.

In addition to job placements, we completed 161 expungements in 2019 and have done another 117 so far this year.

Now, just to reiterate, both programs are unfortunately not a guarantee for a job. They were both designed to help make graduates more marketable as we’re working to help find them steady employment. This is part of the reason that lead to the creation of our Public Service Corps, which will give these graduates a part-time job and an education in a technical trade to prepare them for a good paying career. We saw that even though they had gone through our programs to learn soft skills for employment, we still need more employers to step up and help in this area.

That’s where you come in.

If you own a business or know someone who does, and you want to help give a second chance to someone who needs it, email me at mayor@memphistn.gov or reach out to our Office of Community Affairs at 901.636.6507.

Making the lists: As they do every year, various publications around the country make their lists of the best places to go, why you should go there, and what to do while you’re in town.

When it comes to making those lists—Memphis had a pretty good week. Check it out below:

Memphis ranks #15 on TripAdvisor’s 2020 list of Trending destinations in the U.S.

Memphis named one of the top cities for jobs this year

Art, Health, Learning In Community: A Vertical Urban Village In Memphis

Ticer and Hudman get a nod from Beard awards for 9th time

New data shows more people moving from Nashville to Memphis

Memphis sees second straight year of wage growth, as long recovery proves key

Now, we still have our challenges. But, it’s nice to take a second and enjoy in the fact that others from around the country are noticing some of the great things that make us so uniquely Memphis.

Have great weekend! 

Yours,