Building Together: City of Memphis Weekly Newsletter

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This week I attended the BAPS Diwali Celebration at City Hall. Diwali is a festival of lights that is celebrated by Hindus, Sikhs, and Jains across the world. It celebrates the victory of light over darkness, good over evil, and knowledge over ignorance. And in the opening statements of the event at City Hall, Ridhish Patel read a famous African proverb, “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” And I was reminded of the power of collaboration and the potential importance of the work we are doing together. 

Every week I spend time sharing my thoughts with you. I’ve shared the struggles, like finding a new path for our public transist agency or balancing our post-covid municipal budget. And I’ve shared the accomplishments, like reducing crime by 19% city-wide*; increasing year-over-year afterschool participation in youth services by 48%; partnering with 54 faith-based organizations on a neighborhood clean-up; creating a Strike Team to mitigate illegal dumping and other accute trash issues; and developing our Operation Blight Zero initiative which has worked in five neighborhoods across our city with more planned. So far, the initiative has cleaned up 1197 vacant lots, demolished 23 abandoned and dangerous buildings, and collected 3274 tires, 133 tons of garbage, and 712 cubic yards of construction waste. 

Every week, the work I encourage and the strategies I direct are executed by 8000+ amazing City of Memphis employees. And in so many cases, they take my initial charge and improve on it. Our team constantly over-delivers, they are nimble and innovative. Their dedication to improving service for you, the residents of Memphis, is unending and far too often these remarkable employees don’t get the credit they deserve. 

However, starting in 2015, the City of Memphis found a way to help shout-out our hard-working City employees. We call the celebration of good work the Ovation Awards. The awards recognize excellence and achievement, they emphasize the spirit of collaboration, and they reward the behaviors that help make Memphis a better, stronger, cleaner and more welcoming place to live, work, and engage .

This year, 162 individual nominees and 30 teams, across 15 divisions competed for recognition across nine categories, showcasing the incredible diversity of talents and contributions within our city. 

As your Mayor, I am blown-away by the innovation, creativity, and dedication of our teams. Their servant leadership shines as a model of how to show up every day in a job centered around you, our community members. I congratulate each nominee and winner, and I also applaud everyone who noticed the good work of another and submitted a nomination. . 

As we celebrate these remarkable individuals and teams, let us remember that if we want to go far, we simply must go together. 

Below I have included a brief summary of each winner’s accomplishments, but I encourage you to visit the link for the full stories, a list of all of our deserving nominees, and photos from the event. See full ovation awards information here.

Ovation Award Winners 2024

Accountability: Jeremy Russel, Police Services 
Jeremy is the only rotorcraft mechanic within the Memphis Police Department and has been since 2015. His exceptional performance in maintaining three multimillion-dollar aircraft for the Memphis Police Department’s Air Support Unit make him a standout in a department full of superstars. (Read more about Jeremy here.)

Collaboration: Qwanesha Ward, Fire Service 
Qwanesha exemplifies what it means to work collaboratively. As a firefighter paramedic, she is dedicated to ensuring effective communication during emergency events in our community. Her passion for service and her ability to build partnerships with both internal and external stakeholders make her vitally important to our overall communications strategy. (Read more about Qwanesha here.)

Customer Service Excellence: Victoria Smith, Library Services 
Victoria’s unwavering commitment to exceptional customer service shines through in her work at the library. Her willingness to find creative ways to make a difference in the lives of both her library customers and her co-workers sets her apart. Her approach consistently transforms challenges into opportunities, proving that even the smallest acts can make a positive impact. (Read more about Victoria here.)

Diversity: Renee Sekander, Executive Team 
As a life-long LGBTQ+ advocate, Renee Sekander currently serves as the LGBTQ+ Liaison in my office. I believe diversity is Memphis’ superpower and creating inclusive spaces makes our community stronger. Renee’s commitment to creating more opportunities for more people and building partnerships with internal and external stakeholders helps to ensure that everyone has a seat at our table. (Read more about Renee here.)

Innovation: Whitney Dunning, Library Services 
When our team identified tween resources as a critical service gap in our library system, Whitney made it her priority to create a learning continuum with targeted opportunities for grades 4-6, by piloting the Tween Scene center model at three library branches. (Read more about Whitney here.)

Management Excellence: Bobby Arnett, Solid Waste Management 
Bobby's commitment to managing solid waste services efficiently demonstrates the value of effective leadership. His teammates recognize him as always going above and beyond for his team, and his positive spirit spills over to everyone he meets. (Read more about Bobby here.)

Team Excellence: Environmental Enforcement/Public Works - “Blight Grinders” 
This dedicated team, known as the “Blight Grinders,” has been pivotal in combating blight in our community. Their collaborative efforts have not only improved the city’s aesthetics but have also fostered pride among its residents. (Read more about the Blight Grinders here.)

Volunteer of the Year: Jameta Young, Police Services 
Jameta finds time to serve our community beyond the service through her role at MPD. She spearheaded the collection of blankets and socks for the homeless; she led a peanut butter drive for the food pantry; she helped raise $400 for Junior Achievement; and volunteers for city initiatives like “Bring your Child to Work Day.” (Read more about Jameta here.)

Mentor of the Year: Vickie Miller Brown, General Services 
Vickie has a heart for our youth, mentoring middle school students for the past 9 years as a Grizzlies Team Mentor. By nurturing talent and fostering growth, she plays an instrumental role in developing the next generation of leaders. (Read more about Vickie here.)

This week we also congratulate those who have been elected to serve our Country, County, and City. As we move forward, I challenge each of us to look beyond political differences and embrace the opportunities before us. I pray for God to direct the thoughts and actions of those chosen to lead.

Good News!

Do you have good news to share? We would love to share it! Send us a note at goodnews@memphistn.gov

Weekly Crime Trend

The report below provides our weekly update on Part 1 Crimes. It updates daily and shows a continuous rolling 7-day total compared to the prior 7-day total. The charts on the right show the calendar week trend, comparing 2023 to 2024.

(We maintain two crime dashboards, the Weekly Crime Trend report can be found here, and the Crime Analytics dashboard can be accessed here.)

Our Strike Team worked in the following zip codes this week: 38106, 38108, 38109, 38116, 38126

Community Engagement:

Safer Communities Program Progress. The city of Memphis is proud to announce the award of $1 million in funding to 39 organizations through the Safer Communities program, which was launched in August 2024. We received a total of 81 applications requesting more than $3.2 million. We look forward to working with these organizations to make our communities safer! 

Social and Community Shout-outs:

Memphis Parks at Tennessee Recreation and Parks Association. Memphis Parks made a big impact at the 2024 Tennessee Recreation and Parks Association Conference in Murfreesboro! Ten team members attended, and Memphis Parks brought home multiple prestigious awards. See more and share here.

City Hackathon. Want to make a difference in Memphis? Join us for the City Hackathon on Nov. 15-17 at the University of Memphis! Get involved and register here. 

MPD Community Awareness Forum. Join the Memphis Police Department on November 19, from 12:15pm to 1:30pm at Lucille McWherter Senior Center for the Community Awareness Forum. See full details and share here. 

Home Buyer Education Class. Unsure of the ins and outs of buying a home? Memphis Public Libraries has the class for you on Wednesday, November 13 from 2pm-3pm at the Hollywood Branch! Come hear from our guest lecturer who will give you tips on how to buy your very own home. See full details here.

Memphis Animal Services. We have over 100 dogs at MAS waiting to find loving forever families! If you're ready to adopt then come by 2350 Appling City Cove to expand your family. See full details here. 

Weekly round-up

in partnership and progress,

Paul A. Young