- This month on The SPARK our theme is "Building from the Inside Out".

We'll learn about a community development corporation focused on improving the economic health of two historic North Memphis communities, a center nurturing values and reflection to help young adults explore their identity and faith, and a nonprofit transforming the lives and outcomes of youth in Covington, Tennessee.

We'll also share a special moment from our Spark Awards 2024.

- From Higginbotham's founding in 1948, our insurance agency has been built on the values of customer service, leading with integrity, and supporting our community.

We believe in promoting the positives, encouraging engagement and leading by example to power the good.

Higginbotham Insurance and Financial Services is honored to be the presenting sponsor of The SPARK.

- (male announcer) Additional funding for The SPARK is provided by United Way of the Mid-South, EcOp, the Memphis Zoo, My Town Movers, My Town Roofing, and by First Tee Tennessee-Memphis.

- Have you ever been excited by a new idea, inspired by watching someone lead by example?

When we talk about creating change, we start by sharing the stories of everyday heroes who are making a difference in their own way so we can learn and do the same.

I'm Jeremy Park, and this is The SPARK.

They're a community development corporation focused on improving the economic health of two historic North Memphis communities.

We're here with the executive director of Klondike Smokey City CDC, Ms. Quincey Morris, and let's start out, give us the significance of focusing on these historic North Memphis communities, Klondike and Smokey City.

- It's important to focus on Klondike and Smokey City because they are two of the oldest African-American communities within the city of Memphis, and we have a very rich history of political and community advocacy in our community.

- Talk about what a CDC, a community development corporation, does.

- Community development corporation in the frame of the Klondike Smokey City CDC, we do a little bit of everything.

We focus on family preservation, we focus on crime and safety, and we also focus on affordable housing.

- Let's start with the affordable housing because it's also too renovations, lawn maintenance.

So go ahead and dive in deeper on that side.

- On affordable housing, we do renovations.

Currently we have three units that are vacant, and we are in the process of renovating them for rental.

We have a lawn maintenance crew that goes through the neighborhood and pick, collect trash, debris, anything that's left.

And as far as affordable housing, we try to keep housing prices affordable for people to come into the community, possible purchase a property, and keep those properties affordable.

We do have a home repair program where we do minor home repair, nothing major, just minor home repair.

Briefly, I'll talk about the Tom Lee House.

We have acquired the Tom Lee House and in September we'll have a marker placed in front of the Tom Lee house at 923 Mansfield.

We also have been approved for a predetermination for Tom Lee House to go on the national registry.

And once that happens, we will be able to acquire funds to renovate the house.

That's something that we are working on.

- Talk about feeding programs, 'cause you also have food distributions, you have education that plays a part of this as well to lift up residents.

So talk about the food distributions and the education programs.

- Yes, we do have a food pantry where residents can come in and we will refer them where they can get food, we have a clothes closet where people that are in need can come in and they can obtain clothes.

We also are getting ready for our national night out where we will have fun, food, and a backpack distribution.

We have haircuts, we're gonna be doing haircuts and giving out different school supplies.

- Touch on the work with small businesses because you have a small business incubator as well.

- Yes, we have a small business incubator and that's where we have more than 15 young business or people, home-based businesses that want to develop their business.

We help them get their business license, we also refer them to different lending sources where they might get loans, help them set up their business bank account in our small business incubator.

We are all one shop, you stop here, we can get you some help.

If you need some assistance, we work with other nonprofits to help us help the neighborhood get the things that they need.

- Give us a couple of ways the community can help Klondike Smokey City CDC.

- You can donate to our organization because we are a nonprofit, you can go on our Facebook page, our webpage, our Facebook page is ksccdc@att.net, our webpage is ksccdc.org, and you can go on those pages and keep up with the things that are going on in Klondike and Smokey City.

And also you can go on those pages and donate to our organization.

We are looking for volunteers because we do have events coming up and we like for the community to come out to our events.

In addition to talking to our neighbors, finding out the things that they need, in addition to talking about crime and safety, we're going to have karaoke and that's gonna be a fun event.

Our last karaoke event was very successful and we're looking forward to people coming out and singing and having fun just with the Klondike Smokey City CDC staff.

- Well, miss Quincey Morris, thank you for all you and your amazing team do to power of the good.

Thank you for coming on the show.

- And thank you for inviting me.

[bright music] - They're a center nurturing values and reflection to help young adults explore their identity and faith.

We're here with the Director of Ministries with Barth House Episcopal Center, Maggie Schaumleffel, and let's start out, give us some background on Barth House Episcopal Center.

- Hey Jeremy, thanks for asking.

So Barth House Episcopal Center was actually started in the late '60s, and it was a campus ministry for mainly like, University of Memphis students right there.

And it was a time when campus ministry was really big and booming and then it's gone through some iterations and the building actually closed down in the '90s and was reopened under our bishop now in 2020, the Barth House reopened.

And so we are there as a Center of the Episcopal Diocese of West Tennessee, and we serve the community intergenerational work because like you said, the campus ministry and that's one of our main goals there at Barth House.

- Talk about some of the different uses and conversations because it is obviously open to young adults, but it's also community.

So there's a lot that goes on.

Go ahead and dive into how the magic happens.

- So our mission at the Barth House is to support the humans of West Tennessee in their discovery or rediscovery of faith and the relationship with God and with each other, with the community at large and with the world in general and with the earth.

So we have programming of faith, discussions around faith and focus on faith, we have the arts, which is all those things, programming and discussion and focus, and we also have hospitality, which is, our version of hospitality isn't so much as putting on something for people, but giving people space to be and experience and learn and grow in themselves and who they want to be in this world.

- Talk about some of the feedback, the testimonials you have a chance to receive from the young adults.

- With young adults, there's this interesting amalgamation of the suffering, everybody's talking about the loneliest epidemic and isolation.

And that's true because they're coming, you know, this is the COVID high school generation really.

And also, they are so introspective and they have a great perspective on the world, an outer perspective, to be able to see and gain knowledge and gather knowledge.

When they come into the Barth House, it very much is how they can be met authentically.

I mean, that's really what it is, it's a transformational stewardship of just being present.

A lot of people talk about the presence, you know, the ministry of presence, and it is that, it's also for them to be able to come in and say very simple things like, "I don't know how to make friends," or, "I'm hungry," or, "I don't have sheets for my bed," or, "Explain the Trinity to me."

It's that, it's all the things, and you can't look at just one small facet of a young adult, their faith and their relationship with God, you have to look at the whole person and the whole being and who they are in this world.

- Talk about partnering with the broader community and especially when it comes to some of the different events that you all put on, or at least have an opportunity to host.

- So we have, like for example, coming up, we have 12 step Eucharists at the Barth House.

So our faith bucket, right?

So during school year, we have Eucharist on Wednesdays at noon, and there's a church that meets at Barth House called Holy Trinity, they have worship on Sundays at 10.

So that's an opportunity for people to be in that space for faith.

We have a women's Bible study and a men's Bible study, we also have, so I mentioned the 12 step Eucharist.

So there's an addiction and recovery commission of the Diocese of West Tennessee.

They do a lot of work at Barth House and we have recovery meetings.

If you ask me, like it is, it's tied into the gospel and it is the gospel for me.

So that is our faith area, of course we have prayer and worship and then we have arts as well.

So the way we approach art is to say that that is being your true self.

So when you are creative, when you are feeling that energy, that enthusiasm from the Holy Spirit, then that's what you're supposed to be.

Like, you are worshiping God and fulfilling what God has made in that creation.

We like to delve into the intersection of faith and arts as well.

For example, in November, on November 6th, we are having part of our Barth House Theological Society, they have a fall lecture.

And this one will be theology, it's focusing on the music and the theology of Kendrick Lamar and what is the intersectionality of that art and that movement as well.

It's through that broader exploration, and I think raising our expectations of young adults as well.

Some folks say, "Oh, you know, "they just wanna come in and have pizza.

"They just wanna come in, and they don't want all that, the traditional stuff."

But what I'm finding is actually they do, they do, they want a space where they can have the quiet and the peace and the acceptance of God and Barth House tries to offer that.

- How can the community help and support Barth House Episcopal Center?

- You can come to our events, which would be great, come to our events.

You could also come to lunch on Wednesdays when the school is starting up.

You can provide lunch for students, which it would be fabulous.

If you wanna feed any hungry college students, please hit me up 'cause I got a lot of them.

That's one of the things we try is we try to have snacks and drinks so folks walking in off the street know that they have a place to come and get food no matter what their situation.

And also we have a student relief fund.

And so if people wanna help with that as well.

But also just coming in and being in the space.

I do fully believe the most and the most different types of people that we can get into the Barth House space.

Everybody brings in part of their story, which is part of God's story and they bring it into the space and I believe that you can feel that, you can feel that community and that support when folks wanna come in and just be in a place.

- We'll wrap up with website.

Where can we go to take those next steps to get involved?

- You can find us on the website of the Episcopal Diocese of West Tennessee, which is EDWTN.org, and we're in their ministries, in their campus ministry section.

- Well, Maggie, thank you for all you and your amazing team do to power the good.

Thank you for coming on the show.

- Thank you.

[bright music] - The SPARK Awards annually recognize and celebrate individuals and organizations that made outstanding contributions to the community.

The 2024 corporate award for companies with 51 to 150 employees went to Mr. Handyman of Memphis.

[inspiring music] - My name is Andy Johnson.

I own three companies here in Memphis.

The first is Mr. Rooter Plumbing, which is residential and commercial service work, the next is Mr. Appliance, does residential, commercial appliance repair, and then Mr. Handyman, which is probably the most interesting of the three, which does anywhere from hang a picture to remodel a bathroom.

We can get smarter and have computers do a lot of things for us, but I don't think they're gonna be able to unstop your toilets and fix your appliances and hang a ceiling.

And so not only the trade's good career-wise, but it's good for young people to learn how to use their hands and use a skill that nobody can ever take away from them.

And so we focus on bringing somebody in new who's young, who's energetic, who's mechanically inclined, who wants to learn that, right?

Everybody wants it immediately right now, but it takes time to develop skill.

And so what we ask for is that if you give us a year or two to apprentice under somebody and to learn the skill that we can pretty much guarantee you a very promising career.

So every year we spend one week with the kids from Camp Chambers.

They come in on a Saturday before the week starts and we have different stations, eight to ten stations set up.

And they'll patch sheet rock, they will learn about electricity, we will show 'em basic hand tools, we even have a section that they get to drive the tractor, which that's always a big hit, they get to break up concrete with a jackhammer, which is a big hit.

And so it kinda gives 'em an idea of what trade piques their interest.

They spend an entire week with one technician.

That technician gives his time, and he's teaching that kid that's with him, what he does every day and why he does it.

And so then we spend that whole week learning and then Friday we have a ceremony and we present the kids with a toolbox and with basic hand tools, things that they can start their own collection of tools and that they can use around their house and that they can help around the house for their parents and fix things that they've learned throughout the week.

At the end of the day, if we don't invest in the community, who will, and I'm a big proponent of, if you don't do anything about it, then don't complain about it.

You know, don't complain that you can't find work or you can't find employees, that's everybody's problem, or skilled employees, you know, highly trained employees.

Yeah, it'd be great to hire a bunch of master plumbers or master carpenters, it'd be great to to find those people, but the truth of the matter is that a lot of people aren't going into the trades.

And so we wanna pull back into the community and we wanna find local talent and grow up local talent 'cause just overall it's better for Memphis.

You know, we service the Memphis community and it provides a living for us, it puts food on our table.

And so therefore, we feel like we need to do something to help make it a better place as well.

[inspiring music] - They're a nonprofit transforming lives and outcomes for youth in Covington, Tennessee.

We're here with the CEO of Boys and Girls Club of the Hatchie River Region, Ed Doyle, and let's start out, give us a recap, a fun recap of the summer camp that you just finished up.

- Oh my goodness, we had 176 kids, we did 11 field trips.

I'm not gonna remember 'em all, Graceland, Stax Museum, the Pink Palace, the Civil Rights Museum, the Alex Haley Museum, the Cordova Skating Center, we went to a couple of movies, we did community service, we had kids that went to Magnolia Creek Senior Home and Rehabilitation Center and sang songs and painted fingernails and just loved on on some folks.

We did life skills training through Tipton County Community Garden, we taught kids how to do a load of laundry, we taught kids how to change a tire and wash a car, and then probably the most important thing we did all summer is a Workforce Warriors campaign.

We toured Unilever, now Magnum Ice Cream company, the largest ice cream plant in the world, and then had a day with Leaders Credit Union where they did a financial literacy scenario.

Every kid kind of got a lifestyle and they had to get, arrange for their housing, their transportation, their food, it was really informative.

And then the next day we went to TCAT.

We also had 10 of our kids selected to go to an exclusive all access tour of Ford Blue Oval City Robotics Laboratory.

So they spent a day with a Ford engineer.

TCAT Ripley did a braids and fades cosmetology thing.

It was the craziest eight weeks I have ever experienced, wide open all day with some wonderful kids, just a great summer, man.

- Now that we're into the school year, talk about the school year because you have a Reading Success Academy, you have a lot going on.

So go ahead and dive in.

- It starts with a Reading Success Academy.

That Reading Success Academy is sponsored by Ford Blue Oval City.

We will have two, and they have been named, they are the best, my opinion, the best teachers in Tipton County, Kelly Cowzer and Sarah Dunnavant, two reading specialists in our Boys and Girls Club every day.

They'll create a custom curriculum for every child, they'll provide that instruction one-on-one in small group, and then they'll produce some key metrics to document progress for our kids.

We also have some ongoing workforce development things.

If you can provide them with this exposure to what that looks like and then access, that impact, that means impact.

I mean, that means what will I do in my life, and then access through the TCAT schools, we have huge expectations for transforming some outcomes for some kids from just those two initiatives, yes, sir.

- Talk about mental health because mental health plays a role in this as well.

- So the third cornerstone really is, there's a huge announcement that's forthcoming, but we will provide certified mental health counselors inside the club for kids every day of the school year.

In these three cornerstones, if you can provide some opportunities to close some academic gaps, if you can create a mental health healthy minds equal great futures, a mental health initiative that provides kids the support they need and then a workforce development, financial literacy initiative, I think we start to make a real difference in lives, yes, sir.

- Talk about STEM, robotics, coding, recording studios.

A lot goes into that side of it, which plays into obviously the career exploration, but also too the academics and learning.

- Our STEM program is booming.

We also have a coding academy that starts this year, actually taught by a 15-year-old freshman at Brighton High School.

His name is Dalton Good, and he's part of their cybersecurity team and he is brilliant.

So our kids will be designing apps and competing on a state and national level on the apps that they design, also on the robotics side, on STEM.

So that's huge, that's the glue that kind of holds those three cornerstones together.

- When you look at transforming lives and outcomes, how can the community help support your efforts to do that for the youth?

- So I think the first is advocacy.

I mean, if I were gonna say three things, I would say pray for our children and I should stop there, the second is advocacy.

These kids have a voice, just nobody's listening, and so let their voice be heard.

They have a voice, they don't need a voice, they're really capable of speaking for themselves.

And the third is show up, come to the club.

I believe that financial wellbeing of our organization depends on the relational connection we have with people who have a heart for what we do.

And so if you just show up, come to the club and spend time with our kids, everything else takes care of itself.

Can I add one more thing?

Our our kids just this summer, Jeremy, won a national award of all Boys and Girls Clubs in America for the Heart and Soul of their community, a little two and a half minute video that they created.

And then we were invited to accept that award at the summit for America's Youth in Washington, DC a couple of weeks ago and they turned that summit on its ear.

They have produced a four minute video on mental health awareness that I challenge you to watch it and not cry.

It is crazy, it was birthed out of a conversation of truth, these young girls saying, "Yeah, I slept in a car "with my mom and dad until the state came and put me in a foster home," and "My brother was shot and killed," and one of our leaders had a son commit suicide in her home, and all of this truth just came pouring out in tears and they captured it perfectly.

Those kinds of things create healing, those moments create healing, and that healing is a building block that then starts with, hey, a reading success academy, and hey, a mental health initiative and hey, a workforce development and suddenly, 2050 looks very different in their lives than it does in their parents' lives, and that's the whole goal, man.

- So where do we go to learn more and get involved with Boys and Girls Club of the Hatchie River Region?

- So the best way Jeremy is to contact me personally and my cell number is 901-800-6186.

901-800-6186.

You call or you text me, I promise you I will respond.

The second is our website is B-G-C-H-R-R, Boys and Girls Club Hatchie River region dot com.

And then we are active on social media, the Boys and Girls Club of Hatchie River Region on Facebook and on Instagram, so you can follow us there too.

- Makes it easy.

Well, Ed, thank you for all you and your amazing team do to power the good.

Thank you for coming on the show.

- Thank you, Jeremy.

Thank you, I appreciate it very much.

[bright music] - As we saw in this month's episode, true transformation starts with people, not just places.

That's why we're fortunate to have so many organizations and individuals focused on creating positive change by building from the inside out.

Klondike Smokey City CDC is not just economically strengthening two historic North Memphis communities, they're building up the people, homes and businesses to preserve the past and ensure a vibrant future.

Barth House Episcopal Center is providing a nurturing safe space for soul-searching, healing, and honest conversations where young adults can explore their identity and faith and grow their connection with our community.

And Boys and Girls Clubs of Hatchie River Region is building up youth from the inside out, through character development, academics, leadership, community service, career exploration, and so much more to transform their lives and outcomes.

Our community rises one person, one block, one breakthrough at a time.

So where can you help power the good and become a spark?

To learn more about each of the guests, to watch past episodes, and to share your stories of others leading by example, visit wkno.org and click on the link for "The SPARK".

We look forward to seeing you next month, and we hope that you'll continue joining with us to create a spark for the Mid-South.

- From Higginbotham's founding in 1948, our insurance agency has been built on the values of customer service, leading with integrity, and supporting our community.

We believe in promoting the positives, encouraging engagement, and leading by example to power the good.

Higginbotham Insurance and Financial Services is honored to be the presenting sponsor of The SPARK.

[upbeat music] [acoustic guitar chords]