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Spring break is a time when schools pause, but our responsibility to support young people does not. Across Memphis this week, our libraries and parks are creating spaces where young people can stay engaged, explore new interests, and stay connected to their community.
Next week is MSCS Spring Break, and we are working overtime to produce quality programs for our young people. From art and music to STEM, sports, and hands-on learning, our public spaces are offering programs that provide young people with positive places to spend their time while school is out. City services that help fill those non-school hours and days with productive, safe, and inspiring activities play a vital role in the success of our youth.
Memphis Public Libraries and our Parks Division are both hosting spring break activities across the city next week to fill the need. At our libraries, you will find programs including art projects, STEM activities, cooking camps, drumline sessions, and creative challenges that encourage curiosity and teamwork. Many branches are also offering puzzles, scavenger hunts, and hands-on STEAM activities designed to keep kids learning and creating throughout the week.
While our Parks division has converted community centers across the city into Blooming in Spring camps, where young people can participate in sports, educational activities, and creative projects during the day, with breakfast and lunch provided. Parks will also host Spring Break Mane community events at Germanshire Park, Treadwell Park, and Minne Wagner Park, bringing neighborhoods together for music, games, bounce houses, and outdoor fun.
Programs like these are part of a much larger commitment we have made as a city to invest in young people.
Spring break is a time when schools pause, but our responsibility to support young people does not.
The City of Memphis does not run the school system, but we are deeply invested in the ecosystem that supports the success of our next generation. Our libraries, parks, and community centers play a critical role in giving youth safe spaces to learn, grow, and stay connected to their community.
As I shared in the State of the City, we are investing in people, especially our young people, because the future of Memphis depends on how we prepare and propel the next generation forward. One of the surest ways to continue reducing crime and keep our city on the right path is to ensure that young people have access to opportunity.
Right now, too many young adults in our city are full of potential but in need of a pathway. That is why we are working with partners across Memphis to build clear pathways to prosperity.
We are investing in people, especially our young people, because the future of Memphis depends on how we prepare and propel the next generation forward.
Through our partnership with Collective Blueprint and the Prosper 901 initiative, we are focused on connecting 5,000 young adults to opportunity by 2030.
That strategy focuses on three priorities: expanding paid work experiences, increasing access to high-quality training aligned with industries where Memphis is growing, and helping create careers that offer advancement pathways and long-term stability.
Opportunities like our MPLOY program are also a key part of this effort. By creating 3,000 paid summer jobs each year, young people gain early work experience, income, and their first connection to the world of work. But those opportunities can begin much earlier. They begin when a young person discovers creativity in a library art program, learns teamwork at a neighborhood park, or builds curiosity through a STEM activity.
Those early experiences help young people see what is possible for their future. And that is why the work happening in our libraries and parks during spring break matters so much.
Because when we invest in our young people, we invest in the future of Memphis.
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