2022 in Review at Innovate Memphis
Blog
As we prepare for an exciting year ahead for our organization and city, our team at Innovate Memphis is also looking back to celebrate a year of big accomplishments in 2022. We experienced significant changes in organizational leadership with outgoing Executive Director Justin Entzminger taking on a new opportunity at the Bloomberg Center for Public Innovation in May and new ED Jessica Lotz coming from Memphis-Shelby County Schools in August. During this year of transition, Innovate Memphis’ staff and its partners nevertheless achieved great things for the public good including:
- Launching new food security initiatives and digital literacy courses for senior citizens through our No Kid Hungry and Lead for America fellowships, respectively
- Reaching our ridership goals every month since July for 901 Ride Choice, which provides eligible Memphians with free rides to medical appointments
- Fully transitioning the EMS Healthcare Navigator program to the Memphis Fire Department to sustain patient-centered emergency response practices
- Growing projects and partnerships with nonprofits and local government as a civic data intermediary including receiving the national Kingsley Impact Award for using data infrastructure and community engagement to address racial inequalities in housing instability during the onset of the pandemic
- Continuing to develop new partnerships and educational content for our Commute Options and Commute Options Schools programs that promote increased biking, walking and public transit use
- Supporting capacity building and demonstration projects among our Reimagining the Civic Commons partners and expanding our local learning network and strengthening peer-city connections
We are grateful for all of our staff, partners and supporters who made 2022 a year to remember at Innovate Memphis, and we look forward to all of the work ahead to make our community more vibrant, connected and prosperous in 2023.
