VIEW THE VISION

A county where work pays, businesses grow, and opportunity is reachable.

Shelby County has always been a place where things move: planes, packages, people, and ideas. We are positioned to become the culture, amateur sports, and distribution capital of the nation where people, jobs, creativity, and opportunity meet. Economic growth requires a focus on giving people the tools, transit, and investment needed to move upward and forward. Our goal is simple: job creation, small business expansion, and opportunities that don’t stop at the city core or at municipal borders. This is how we reposition Shelby County as the innovation capital of the South.

Commitment:

A growing economy must lift the people who built it. Everyone rises, or no one does. This includes closing income gaps that disproportionately affect Black women, who are overrepresented in low-wage work while carrying the highest caregiving burdens.

Priorities:

• Regional Transit Access

• Level Up Guaranteed Income Initiative

• The Spirit of Shelby: Culture and Sports as Economic Engines

1. Regional Transit

Transportation should connect people to opportunity. Today, it doesn’t and the costs to families, students, and businesses are high. The gaps are real:

• Workers can get near their job, but not to the entrance.

• Students live “close enough” to school on paper, but too far to walk safely at times

• Seniors miss appointments because one route takes three hours.

• Third-shift employees lose jobs when buses stop running.

• Suburban routes are shrinking and safety concerns push people back into cars.

We will collaborate to implement 901-RIDE as a supplemental shuttle network working alongside MATA to fill in missing gaps.

• Pick up students who live too close for a school bus, but too far to walk safely especially without sidewalks or during bad weather.

• Connect workers to more sites like logistics, hospitals, Amazon/Nike, retail

• Move families to entertainment - shuttles from designated park-and-ride hubs to downtown to increase event attendance and avoid garage searching, six-block walks at midnight, and returning to car break-ins.

Proposed funding to operate 901-RIDE:

• Federal transit & mobility grants, state workforce & apprenticeship funds

• Corporate sponsorships

• Employer-co-funded workforce route contracts for shift-workers

• Philanthropic pilot matching and county operational savings 
  

2. Level Up Guaranteed Income Initiative

No family in Shelby County should have to choose medication, groceries, or gas. Hunger is not a result of personal failure, it is the consequence when pay doesn’t keep up with cost-of-living.

We will pilot Level Up, Shelby County’s first Guaranteed Income Initiative:

• Low-income households

• Monthly stipend

• 6-12-month pilot program with expansion tied to results

This is an efficient way to put money directly into the hands of families who need it most without complicated forms, hoops to jump through, and punishment for working or improving your life.

3. The Spirit of Shelby: Culture & Amateur Sports Capital of the South

From Beale Street to Bartlett studios, from rap to rock to gospel, Shelby County creates culture the world copies, yet too many of our artists and athletes lack access, space, and funding. Our talent is our currency. We will invest in it:

Heart the Arts

• Microgrants for artists, filmmakers, musicians, and designers to turn vacant or neglected spaces into creative landmarks.

• Quarterly designated days of celebrating local innovation, arts, food, and sports showcasing homegrown talent and ideas to draw investment, attention, and tourism.

See Shelby Passport

• Neighborhood cultural tourism routes exploring food, murals, music, and history countywide

Shelby Sports

• Create a Countywide Youth Sports Commission representing all 13 districts

• Launch The Shelby Cup regional multi-sport tournament to generate tourism

• Form the Mayor’s Sports & Events Council to pursue major events and generate revenue: WNBA/NBA All-Star Weekend, youth cheer/dance nationals, baseball championships, state and regional sports events

Responsible Gaming

As part of our ONE SHELBY Legislative Agenda we will advocate to our state partners to evaluate the future of regulated gaming as a responsible, locally beneficial approach to casinos and gaming that puts Shelby County first. Beneficial outcomes from this approach would include:

• Education facility maintenance and deferred maintenance, ensuring our schools are safe, modern, and worthy of our students

• Transportation and infrastructure investments, from road repairs to transit improvements that move people and commerce efficiently

• Local economic growth including workforce development and inclusive small-business participation