Public services and outcomes cannot improve without access to quality civic data. At Innovate Memphis, we believe data should be democratized for everyone – public and nonprofit service providers, local decision-makers, community organizers and advocates, and the public at large.

Our team has managed several open-access tools such as the Memphis Property Hub and COVID-19 Socioeconomic Vulnerability Map that pull together data from a variety of sources and agencies that users can interact with to explore trends, groups, and neighborhoods they want to focus on. We also launched larger, more comprehensive civic data hub, Data Midsouth, with 75+ local data and research assets about 15 civic topics. We also add to public agencies’ and nonprofits’ capacity by producing quantitative and qualitative analysis to inform or evaluate their services.

However, we go beyond producing dashboards and reports, using a collaborative research-to-action framework to ensure that community perspectives guide our work and that the results lead to tangible change. Innovate Memphis serves as Memphis’ designated Urban Institute National Neighborhood Indicators Partnership site and has facilitated a quarterly Civic Data Forum with 35+ public and nonprofit organizations since 2019. By tapping into a large local and national network of experts and change makers, we are building a strong coalition of civic data champions in our community.

The need to close the digital divide has never been more pressing in Memphis. As services and resources move increasingly online, we are working closely with public, private and nonprofit partners to deliver affordable broadband services, technology and digital education opportunities to Memphians who can benefit most.

Innovate Memphis has previously worked with ER2, Memphis libraries, and local community centers to provide devices and digital literacy training to several cohorts of seniors in low-income communities. We tailored the training curriculum to be culturally responsive and adapted to each cohort’s initial skill level.

We also partnered with Shelby County Government and 8 local nonprofits to deploy hundreds of free devices to eligible residents through the State of Tennessee’s Broadband Ready Communities program.

Seeded by our No Kid Hungry Fellowship, Innovate Memphis seeks to improve access and coordination between service providers, food donors, and referral services so that families can keep food on the table during times of crisis.

Our work started with a food rescue landscape analysis to learn from 30+ last mile organizations (those that provide food and other types of essential resources directly to families) about gaps and opportunities in Memphis’ food ecosystem. We later expanded our human-centered research and design to additional nonprofits and their clients looking to access food resources and developed a Memphis Food Finder prototype. The Food Finder is an information referral tool so that service providers and clients can more quickly and easily locate nearby food resources outside of their traditional networks. We are looking for a long-term adopter organization to sustain this resource! Contact us at info@innovatememphis.com if you’re interested.

Our latest initiative is a local Food Systems Council launched by Director Angelica Carey in Fall 2025. The Council has 20+ members representing, public, private and nonprofit organizations contributing to all parts of the food system from agriculture to direct assistance to nutrition education. The Council will establish 2-3 key priorities to increase community access to healthy foods and seek funding and implementation partners to deliver on these priorities.

Just as blight elimination leads to revitalized neighborhoods citywide, blighted properties are associated with many community challenges related to declining economic and housing markets, crime, poverty, and poor public health.

Blight has a social impact that ripples through Memphis’ schools, workplaces, homes, and neighborhoods — at worst, dissuading homeowners and landlords from maintaining their investments and discouraging investors and developers from working in core city neighborhoods.

For these communities to thrive, blighted properties must be cleaned, activated, and sustained. Our first step to address the problem of blight in Memphis is to define and measure it. We created the Bluff City Snapshot, to capture property conditions and input into our comprehensive data warehouse. Combined with layers of data from local agencies and census data, we developed the Memphis Property Hub platform to provide actionable data for CDCs, researchers, planners, and citizens to make data-driven decisions.

Public parks play a critical role in cultivating a livable city infrastructure. Well-maintained and used public parks improve the environment, community health, and quality of life, as well as catalyze economic development.

Our work with Parks includes the incubation and development of the parks advocacy organization, Bloom. Additionally, we have convened public-private partnerships with Reimagining the Civic Commons. Furthermore, we have supported the City of Memphis Parks Division, including developing the City’s Parks Reservation system, establishing key performance indicators, funding research, and supporting the Memphis 3.0 comprehensive plan for parks and green spaces.

Transportation and mobility are essential to addressing the physical and economic well-being of residents. We work to improve the way Memphis and Shelby County develop, fund, and manage community transportation systems.

Over the years, we have supported local and regional partners working on multi-modal transportation choices and goals set out in the Midsouth Regional Greenprint and led the Memphis 3.0 Transit Vision process to develop an improved transit network plan. Additionally, Innovate Memphis managed a Commute Options program for Transportation Demand Management and has pioneered transportation innovation, including shared mobility and Explore Bike Share. We previously led a mobility management program, 901RideChoice, to provide free on-demand rides to healthcare and wellness resources.

Current projects include piloting a new community-led grocery rideshare in partnership with Knowledge Quest so South Memphis residents have access to full-service grocery stores and launching the Street Fair transportation advocacy initiative. Street Fair raises awareness about transportation mobility and safety issues in Memphis and advocates for improvements to policy and infrastructure in the built environment for safer, more connected communities.