We are engaged in five action plans that have strong potential to help mitigate employment roadblocks and ease the path to living-wage careers.

Up to six in 10 formerly incarcerated people are not employed in the formal job market and only 55 percent of them have reported wages within 12 months of their release.

85% of Tennessee TANF recipients said they have been impacted by the benefits cliff. The largest benefits cliffs are associated with the loss of support for childcare and housing.

Memphis ranks nearly last (41 of 42) among large urban areas for transit use per capita, with only two percent of Memphians taking transit to work.

Working parents in Shelby County struggle to access available and affordable childcare. Alarmingly, the average annual cost for childcare in Shelby County rivals that of state university tuition.

Childhood trauma is unfortunately common in Memphis, and a person with four or more adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) is over twice as likely to earn less than $10,000 per year.

Unfortunately, in Memphis, few resources exist to help people experiencing poverty identify their professional strengths and match those strengths with the living-wage jobs that value these strengths the most.

Memphis does not have a centralized organization that can help job seekers navigate employment pathways across sectors.

Six out of every ten Tennessee community college students experiencing poverty do not continue after the first year. In Shelby County, only 2 in 10 community college students graduate within six years.