New Year, New Memphis
If you’re anything like us, you’re struggling to stick to your New Year’s resolutions, and it’s hardly been a week. That’s because it’s way easier to carry on the status quo than to make important, difficult changes to your life. Memphis is the same way—our local governments, education systems, nonprofits, and budgets, by and large, can easily fall into the same playbook year-in and year-out. We plan to tackle our largest challenges, improve outcomes, and improve economic growth, but face budget constraints, legislative changes, federal policy shifts, and macroeconomic issues out of our control. Just like our personal resolutions, we won’t achieve our community resolutions without a plan. While we still face low educational outcomes, entrenched poverty, and a myriad of other challenges, a set of shared resolutions and commitments across our efforts can begin to change how we support our children and families in 2026.
But, hey, resolutions are hard, and it’s early in the year. But, we see opportunity! Fiscal Year 2027 budgets are being drafted right now, the state legislature kicks off its session on Tuesday, and Shelby countians are actively running for public office for Shelby County Mayor, Commission, School Board, and an array of county and state offices. This year will undoubtedly be a year of transformation and change. Will we harness these opportunities for change and invest newly in the children and families of Shelby County?
Here are a few New Year’s resolutions that Seeding Success will be focused on in 2026!
Support Transparent and Collaborative Governance
For decades, our county, city, and school district government systems have worked independently of one another, in siloes, to the detriment of the lives of citizens across the county. In 2026, all should strive to collaborate more with one another to fund the real priorities of the community—no more piecemeal programs through hundreds of nonprofits all serving the same purpose and the same population. The budgeting process of each body should take into consideration the priorities of the entire county and decide which entity will tackle each issue, rather than everyone doing everything all at once. We are not talking about a metropolitan form of government, but instead on improving our current fractured governance to function with the efficiency of a unified one. This is the foundation upon which the More For Memphis plan is built. It’s time to invest in actionable systems that transform the lives of children and families by improving economic mobility through the avenues listed below.
Support “Pre-K For All”
You know about this one, because I’ve written about it dozens of times. The most impactful investment a government can make in a child’s life is free, high-quality Pre-K education. The city and county both took a huge step toward that last year by passing the “Pre-K For All” ordinance and allocating an additional $3.5 million collectively to begin implementing it. Though the funding has not yet been disbursed (another major issue entirely), this takes the local public investment in Pre-K up to ~$19 million. But, to fully realize “Pre-K For All,” the figure will need to be closer to $50 million. This year, all of our local governing bodies should take incremental steps toward funding that goal - we can continue this important progress in 2026
Build a Workforce Training and the Early Postsecondary Opportunities System
We should stop treating “workforce training” as a grab bag of options and instead align K-12 and our broader workforce and postsecondary systems around a tighter set of high-quality programs—programs with a proven track record of leading to good jobs, strong wages, and credentials that build toward longer-term opportunity. That kind of focus makes it easier for students, families, and adults to know what’s worth their time, and it helps public dollars flow to pathways that reliably deliver results instead of being spread thin across duplicative efforts. Quality alone isn’t enough if people can’t finish. If we want completion rates to go up, we have to back those high-quality programs with the practical supports that keep people enrolled: transportation, childcare, tools, fees, and short-term emergency help when life happens, so the path to a credential doesn’t fall apart at the first barrier.
Ensure Every Student Has Access to a QUALITY education by:
Providing every Pk-3rd Grade Student High-Quality Literacy Instruction
Early literacy lays the groundwork for lifelong learning, and high-quality instruction in the earliest years of schooling is one of the most powerful levers for improving educational equity and outcomes. Research consistently shows that strong pre-K and early elementary instruction—characterized by rich language interactions, individualized support, and data-informed teaching—significantly boosts children’s reading and language development by third grade.
Moreover, the quality and continuity of instruction across the pre-K to 3rd grade continuum determine whether early gains are sustained or fade out over time. High-quality pre-K programs not only enhance children’s early literacy but also yield lasting benefits in elementary achievement when aligned with rigorous, supportive early-grade instruction
Policymakers seeking to improve reading outcomes should therefore invest in coherent PreK–3rd grade literacy systems, focusing on teacher preparation, curriculum alignment, and equitable access to quality early learning environments. More for Memphis, the Strategic Partners for Literacy, and the Shelby County Early Literacy Plan emphasize getting literacy instruction right in these early years is not just a pedagogical choice—it’s a public policy imperative for our community’s success. For years, the call to systemically address early literacy has gone unmet by policy and practice. Lets change that in 2026.
Expanding Full-Service Community Schools
The city and county should partner with the school district to establish 10 additional community schools this year. Full-service community schools (FSCS) strengthen students’ educational experiences and outcomes by responding to their needs as a whole. In Memphis, community schools provide wrap-around student support through academic and social services, arts programming, counseling, and case management within schools to remove barriers to success. Schools adopting an FSCS model successfully keep students engaged, improve academic performance, and connect families to the resources they need to thrive. Together, these efforts lay the foundation for lifelong success by ensuring that children have the educational support necessary to pursue higher education and careers, ultimately contributing to broader economic mobility goals. Each new community school costs ~$500,000/year, totaling $5 million in new investments for this upcoming fiscal year. Could we expand community school services to 10 new schools in 2026?
Providing Every Student with a Quality Learning Environment
The $2.9 billion cloud looming over MSCS this year is the cost of deferred maintenance. With aging infrastructure across the district and so many underenrolled schools, it’s time to create a comprehensive plan to address all facilities issues, expand high-quality school options, and invest in innovative school models that prepare students for the future. That means right-sizing the district by consolidating schools into a more efficient and manageable number, redeveloping sites for adaptive reuses, and determining a path forward for maintaining the facilities that will remain. The district has said that it is in the process of creating such a plan, but its release has been delayed repeatedly. It’s time for a comprehensive plan that puts every student in a quality seat; spurs community development; and maximizes district operational and financial effectiveness.
And
Invest in and Expand Affordable Housing Development
We are in an undeniable housing crisis; in Memphis alone, there is a shortage of over 50,000 affordable housing units for low-income households. There is no one-stop-shop solution for chipping away at the issue. Addressing the housing crisis requires multiple strategies that prioritize growing the housing stock, including intentional investments and policy reforms. Chattanooga, for instance, has deployed the first investment into a catalytic affordable housing fund, designed to provide flexible construction costs and incentivize affordable housing development for both for-profit and nonprofit developers. Additionally, land-use and zoning policy reforms offer opportunities to streamline the pre-development, environmental court, and construction processes, allowing local developers to expand projects.
