Blight-fighters from throughout the greater Memphis community are invited to attend the second annual Memphis Blight Elimination Summit, taking place on Wednesday, May 17.

The summit will begin with lunch program at 11:00am Clayborn Temple, 294 Hernando Street, and includes a series of workshops offering useful skill-building opportunities and resources from 1:30pm – 3:30pm at the University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law, 1 North Front Street. Registration is now open at Memphis.uli.org/event/2nd-annual-memphis-blight-elimination-summit/.

“Vacant, abandoned, and nuisance properties threaten the public safety and quality of life in neighborhoods throughout Memphis — but together, we’re making progress in our fight against these blighted properties,” says Steve Barlow, President of Neighborhood Preservation, Inc. and one of the summit’s organizers. “The Second Annual Memphis Blight Elimination Summit will gather grassroots activists, policymakers, and business leaders to strategize about how our community can get rid of blighted properties for good.”

In addition to remarks by Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland and Shelby County Mayor Mark Luttrell, the afternoon lunch portion of the summit will include an awards presentation for individuals and properties from throughout the Memphis that are improving conditions in our neighborhoods. The public is encouraged to nominate people and places for these honors: Unlockyourcity.typeform.com/to/KxrcPY. The sponsors and steering committee of the Blight Elimination Summit will make their selections by April 30, and will notify all honorees and their nominators at that time.

“Blighted property anywhere is a threat to public safety, property values, and quality of life everywhere,” says Archie Willis III, Principal at Community Capital and Chairman of the ULI Memphis District Council, another summit sponsor. “Last year’s summit was a standing-room-only event, so we know that the public interest in addressing this crisis is strong. Our collaborative, community-wide approach is seeing results. The Blight Elimination Summit is both a recognition of the achievement we have made in removing blight and repairing our neighborhoods, and a challenge to everyone to continue this difficult work.”

WHAT: Second Annual Memphis Blight Elimination Summit
WHERE & WHEN: Wednesday, May 17, 11:00am – 3:30pm at Clayborn Temple, 294 Hernando Street (lunch and awards presentation) and University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law, 1 North Front Street (afternoon workshops)
WHO SHOULD ATTEND: Policymakers, grassroots activists, business leaders, public policy and legal professors, members of the media, and anyone interested in collaborative, community-wide strategies to combat blight in our neighborhoods.
REGISTRATION & MORE INFO:
RSVP at Memphis.uli.org/event/2nd-annual-memphis-blight-elimination-summit.
Nominate a policymaker, grassroots activist, or property in the greater Memphis area who is making a positive difference in their neighborhood at Unlockyourcity.typeform.com/to/KxrcPY.

Sponsors of the second annual Memphis Blight Elimination Summit include Neighborhood Preservation, Inc., ULI Memphis, University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law, Clean Memphis, Keep Tennessee Beautiful, Memphis City Beautiful, Greater Memphis Chamber, the Memphis Branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, Shelby County Government, City of Memphis, and the Tennessee Housing Development Authority.

 

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