Recommendations for Harris focus on poverty, broad impact
The recommendations of more than 40 Shelby County civic leaders will act as a “North Star,” guiding the county toward making an impact, said Mayor Lee Harris.
Harris was presented with a report from his transition team Monday. The team was comprised of six task forces, focusing on the areas of education, transportation and community development, criminal justice, health care, economic development and government structure and metrics.
Lionel Hollins, former Memphis Grizzlies basketball coach, said that although the people on the team are from different backgrounds, they focused on similar issues: poverty, economic equity, social justice, health, “more action and less talk.”
The goal, Hollins said, was to present Harris with ideas of how to create “a Shelby county for all of us.”
Here are some takeaways from the report, which will be available online.
Task forces put emphasis on poverty
Several task force leaders who spoke Monday mentioned tackling poverty, whether through education, transit or economic development. Recommendations included that the county partner with schools, churches and other community centers to offer job centers, offer late hours at all Shelby County health clinics, match city contributions to a program that improves quality of housing for low income families and ensure that students graduate with job skills.
Another recommendation was that the county work to streamline payment to minority- and women-owned businesses and developing bonding programs for them.
“We have about 200,000 folks at least in this county that live in poverty,” Harris said. “In order to make an impact on that substantial problem you have to stay laser focused on areas that can be broadly impactful.”
Ideas include new positions, entities
Several sections of the report recommended the creation of new positions or entities. The health care task force suggested a health care liaison and exploring the possibility of creating a Shelby County Board of Health to work in conjunction with the Health Department.
The economic development task force suggested the appointment of a chief workforce officer.
The education committee also recommended the appointment of an education liaison, a position that has already been approved but not yet filled.
Criminal justice committee emphasizes decreasing jail population
The people gathered Monday to hear the team’s report gave a round of applause when they were told that Harris supports one task force’s goal of reducing the jail population by 20 percent by 2020.
That portion of the report also included the goal of creating a youth resource center to open in the summer of 2019. The committee also suggested making pretrial services a director level agency, conducting a national search for that executive director or administrator.
Task forces mirror Harris’ focus on education, transportation
During his campaign, Harris spoke often about his desire to impact education and transportation, both subjects that became task forces of the transition team.
In the report, the education task force recommended the expansion of pre-kindergarten and early childhood education programs for children ages 0-5. It also suggested that the county acquire vacant schools, using them for things like community programming.
The transportation and community development task force emphasized the importance of improving quality of life for residents who are struggling economically. Some ways the county can do so include adopting the Memphis 3.0 transit vision plan, which should be finalized in coming months, and working to improve the quality of housing for low income families, the report said.
Paul Morris, president of Jack Morris Auto Glass and co-chair of the transition team, said the group was meant to act as “advisers, not deciders.”
“Just because an idea’s in here doesn’t mean the whole transition team agrees on it, but it also doesn’t mean the mayor will adopt it,” Morris said. “Advising is the easy part. Deciding and executing is the hard part.”