Strengthening Local Business Partnerships at the 2025 City Hackathon
Challenge #3: Tools for Local Business Partners Innovate Memphis is partnering with City government and local tech talent partners to host another Hackathon November 7-9. This blog series provides more detail about each challenge topic hackers can tackle during the event. Go to Hackathon Website Memphis is known for its entrepreneurial spirit, and the greater […]
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Navigating User-Friendly Services & Resources at the 2025 City Hackathon
Challenge #2: User-Friendly Resource Navigation Innovate Memphis is partnering with City government and local tech talent partners to host another Hackathon November 7-9. This blog series provides more detail about each challenge topic hackers can tackle during the event. Go to Hackathon Website With 20+ divisions and offices offering a wide variety of services, the […]
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Uncovering Blight Data Insights at the 2025 City Hackathon
Challenge #1: Blight Data Innovate Memphis is partnering with City government and local tech talent partners to host another Hackathon November 7-9. This blog series provides more detail about each challenge topic hackers can tackle during the event. Go to Hackathon Website Blight is more than an eyesore; it affects the health, safety, and economic […]
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Using AI and Smart City Technology at the 2024 City Hackathon
Challenge #3: AI & Smart City Technology Innovate Memphis is partnering with City government and local tech talent partners to host a Hackathon November 15-17. This blog series provides more detail about each challenge topic hackers can tackle during the event. Go to Hackathon Website A Smart City leverages data and technology to improve the […]
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Improving Workforce Transportation at the 2024 City Hackathon
Challenge #2: Workforce Transportation Innovate Memphis is partnering with City government and local tech talent partners to host a Hackathon November 15-17. This blog series provides more detail about each challenge topic hackers can tackle during the event. Go to Hackathon Website Over 25,000 households in Memphis do not have access to a vehicle. In […]
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Tackling Blight at the 2024 City Hackathon
Challenge #1: Neighborhood Improvement Innovate Memphis is partnering with City government and local tech talent partners to host a Hackathon November 15-17. This blog series provides more detail about each challenge topic hackers can tackle during the event. Go to Hackathon Website Blight is more than an eyesore; it affects the health, safety, and economy […]
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Innovate’s Angelica Carey presents on food security project at 2024 Urban Food Systems Symposium
Angelica Carey, Research Project Manager at Innovate Memphis, recently presented a poster at the 2024 Urban Food Systems Symposium in Columbus, Ohio.
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Walking [and Biking] with Students in Memphis: Commute Options Schools Highlights from Spring 2024
This blog is authored by Nikki Dildine, Commute Options Schools Manager for Innovate Memphis Now that the 2023-2024 school year has come to a close, we’d like to reflect on the exciting work we accomplished with our Commute Options partner schools this spring. Commute Options involves deep collaboration with educators, local government, and many community […]
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Staff Spotlight: Q&A with Susan Dalton
Susan Dalton is Innovate Memphis’ Director of Strategic Initiatives and was recently recognized in Memphis Business Journal’s 40 Under 40 class of 2024. Since starting at Innovate Memphis in 2017, Susan has led a range of innovation projects for parks & public space, neighborhood vitality, civic data, food security, and worked with government partners to […]
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Staff Spotlight: Q&A with Jackson McNeil
Jackson McNeil is Innovate Memphis’ Transportation & Mobility Director and the author of our new white paper on local transit funding. He brings a wealth of knowledge about transportation systems, having earned his master’s degree in City and Regional Planning from the University of Memphis and through his previous work on equitable transportation systems at […]
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Innovate Memphis welcomes three University of Memphis graduate research fellows for 2023-24
Core to all of Innovate Memphis’ work is collaboration and an evidence-based approach to diagnosing and solving civic problems. Over the past several years, our team has partnered with the University of Memphis School of Urban Affairs & Public Policy (SUAPP) to place graduate research Fellows who work on a portfolio of innovation projects. These […]
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Blog: Applying anthropology for successful civic innovation
Guest blog by Applied Anthropology Fellow Jennie Doss, recent graduate of the University of Memphis School of Urban Affairs and Public Policy When I reflect on my time as a graduate fellow working with Innovate Memphis over these past two years, I think of the lessons learned, the work accomplished, and the new friends made […]
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New Report: Clean Memphis partners with Innovate Memphis on food rescue landscape analysis and solutions
We are excited to share that Clean Memphis has published the Memphis Food Rescue Landscape Analysis, a project powered by Innovate Memphis that identifies challenges and potential solutions to address local food insecurity. With funding provided by the City of Memphis and the National Resource Defense Council (NRDC), Clean Memphis partnered with Innovate Memphis to […]
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Transit Equity for Memphis
By Jackson McNeil, Transportation & Mobility Director Transit Equity Day is a national day of action to commemorate the birthday of Rosa Parks by declaring that public transit is a civil right. In Memphis, Innovate Memphis has participated in an annual event on February 4th with other transit advocates and organizations to honor Rosa Parks […]
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Welcome Jackson McNeil, Transportation and Mobility Director
Innovate Memphis Names New Transportation and Mobility Director MEMPHIS, TN – Innovate Memphis announces the hire of Jackson McNeil as Transportation and Mobility Director for Commute Options. In this role, McNeil is responsible for providing project management and delivery of current and emerging transportation-related projects with a focus on encouraging individuals, employers, and schools to […]
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2022 in Review at Innovate Memphis
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 […]
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Nine great things for 901 Day: Innovate Memphis’ Decade of Achievements
In 2011, Memphis became one of the first five cities in the world to establish an Innovation Delivery team in partnership with Bloomberg Philanthropies. The past decade has included much to celebrate about innovation as we have navigated a period of growth, change, and challenges – including an unprecedented global public health emergency that upended […]
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MBJ: Innovate Memphis’ new leader Jessica Lotz takes on shaping a city
This article originally appeared in the Memphis Business Journal. In many ways, Jessica Lotz is a data-oriented person. Research has played a major role in her career, and she can easily go down a rabbit hole with a spreadsheet, and find it satisfying. Yet she’s also keenly aware that data alone is ineffective, and that it should […]
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Innovate Memphis Names Jessica Lotz Executive Director
Innovate Memphis today announced that Jessica Lotz has been appointed as its new executive director. Lotz succeeds Justin Entzminger, who previously led the organization for six years. Lotz comes to Innovate Memphis from Memphis-Shelby County Schools as the Director of Research and Performance Management. For the past six years, she was responsible for expanding and […]
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Justin Entzminger joins the Bloomberg Center for Public Innovation at Johns Hopkins University as Innovation Practice Director
Please join us in congratulating Justin Entzminger on his new role as Innovation Practice Director for the Bloomberg Center for Public Innovation at Johns Hopkins University. We are grateful to Justin for his leadership over the past six years as Executive Director of Innovate Memphis. During his tenure, Justin led the innovation team for the […]
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Seeking Executive Director
Innovate Memphis is seeking an Executive Director. This position will oversee and direct strategic and operational responsibility for Innovate Memphis staff, programs, and expansion, in alignment with the Innovate Memphis mission. Founded in 2012 as the Mayor’s Institute for Excellence in Government, Innovate Memphis was one of the first five innovation teams funded by Bloomberg […]
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What medical transportation options exist for seniors on Medicare?
Seniors on Medicare that face mobility issues and live on a limited or fixed income have a number of options at their disposal for being transported to and from important appointments, including doctor visits. You may wonder, however, whether Medicare actually covers the cost of these transportation options — and what alternatives are at seniors’ […]
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You may have seen us on the news!
If you tuned into WREG News Channel 3’s Live at 9 segment this morning, you just might have seen our own Courtney McNeal sharing about our 901RideChoice Rides to Wellness program. Getting around Memphis without a car isn’t easy for anyone, but for seniors and people living with disabilities, this can have a direct, negative […]
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How generational wealth disparities influence transportation access
Wherever you went today, from work to dropping the kids off at school or even picking up milk at the supermarket, your socioeconomic status got you there. This is a radical thought at first glance. But the resources available to us are ultimately what influence the decisions we make on a day to day basis. […]
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Family caretakers are going back to work. Here’s what this means for seniors.
If the disruption posed by the COVID-19 pandemic did have silver linings, one impact for families was an increased availability to care for vulnerable loved ones as they worked from home or left the workforce altogether. A significant number of these caregivers, researchers demonstrated, have been women. But with vaccines now widely available and case […]
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How transportation can influence health outcomes
A report from the American Hospital Association suggested that close to 4 million Americans delay or do not receive the medical attention they need due to transportation barriers every year – a figure likely worsened by pandemic-associated economic hardship and isolation. In some ways, this seems obvious. If you don’t have a car – or […]
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What Rides to Wellness Means for Memphis
Memphians often take for granted our ability to navigate around such a car-dependent metropolis, enabling us to get to what and where we need – weather permitting, at least. Easy access to transportation, which for most of us means the family car, is what allows us to connect with friends and family, go shopping, and […]
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Innovate Memphis joins National Neighborhood Indicators Partnership
Innovate Memphis is proud to announce our acceptance into The National Neighborhood Indicators Partnership (NNIP).
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Celebrate What’s Right: Memphis The Movement
Innovate Memphis Program Manager Susan Dalton joined fellow panelists in this virtual series by The New Memphis Institute to Celebrate What’s Right and discuss Memphis the Movement! Panelists discuss why and how Memphis is making moves in innovation, technology, and business development to forge a new Memphis. Susan shared her perspective as a lifelong Memphian […]
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A Statement from Innovate Memphis
Innovate Memphis believes that Black Lives Matter and stands in solidarity with the international calls to end police brutality. We oppose injustice, cruelty, and systemic racism in all its forms. We acknowledge the depth and breadth of the generations of inequities facing our communities. These racist systems are always at the root of the challenges […]
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Civic Data Hackathon 2020
Article Link: Data Story On March 6-8 2020, the City of Memphis partnered with CodeCrew, Innovate Memphis, Shelby County, StartCo, the FedEx Institute of Technology, and Census 2020 to plan its first Civic Data Hackathon. As part of International Open Data Day, Memphis joined cities all over the world in using open data to address […]
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Equity at Work: Beloved Community
High Ground News | February 13, 2020 Article Link: Memphis nonprofits ask, “Are we inclusive? Are we equitable?” “What does it mean for an employer to have an inclusive culture and equitable practices? And how does an organization truly reflect the values and identities of the communities it serves? Late last summer, a group of […]
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A high-quality transit system will propel Shelby County to great heights
Link: Shelby County Deserves Great Transit Opinion Article The Commercial Appeal | October 4, 2019 Sylvia Crum and Erik Henneghan of the Mayor’s Young Professionals Council express the importance of transportation for Shelby County. Our ability to improve public transit will determine how well our county can fully achieve ambitious goals for the future – […]
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Commute Options Commute Challenge for National Bike to Work Day
May 17, 2019 | GOODWorks For the entire month of May, Commute Options, an Innovate Memphis program initiative, is challenging Memphians to shift gears from riding alone, to instead carpooling, using public transit, walking, biking, or scooting to and from work instead. Participants in the Commute Challenge 2019 sign-up for the free challenge, track their […]
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Five Tips for City Innovators
Five Tips for City Innovators Tommy Pacello shares his insight on innovation. Innovation at the city level is vital for long-term growth and stability, but developing bold solutions to big urban challenges requires a devotion to process and partnership and strong leadership that is willing to try something new. Key Takeaways:1. Activate the community2. Numbers…
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