Stories

Feature Story A power-drained Bird scooter on Central Avenue near Christian Brothers University. (Cole Bradley)

Dead Birds: Shared mobility ordinance attempts to curb errant electric scooters

Bird scooters, which were introduced to Memphis in June, are posing safety issues for those in the mobility-challenged community.

Feature Story Crystal Bullard’s children started preschool and elementary school at Whitney Achievement Elementary School last year. (Caroline Bauman/Chalkbeat Tennessee)

When students miss school, they fall behind. Here’s how one group is curbing absenteeism.

Agape, a Memphis nonprofit, works with students at Whitney Achievement Elementary and 15 other schools to help students with attendance and behavior.

Feature Story (Eva Hill for HuffPost)

What it's like to work at a suicide prevention hotline in Memphis

“We don’t read from scripts. It’s all off the cuff. Speak from your heart.”

Feature Story Erma Simpson, founder of the Hagar Center, talks about her program's Saturday Lunchand Learn classes for teen mothers where she distributes needed supplies that have been donated. Simpson is partnering with the Urban Child Institute to organize a cit

City-wide diaper drive to support Memphis families in poverty

Frayser's Hagar Center and its partners are hosting a diaper drive as first step toward a free diaper bank for Memphis and Shelby County. It's a step they say is critical to helping at-risk moms and babies succeed. 

Feature Story (Left to right) Ladarius Shields, Richy Phan, Ceric Hicks, Hayden Williams, London Johnson (held), Robin Tate, Alice Shields, and Lonel Shields (front) pose for a portrait at Treadwell Middle School. (Ziggy Mack)

In photos: Welcome to The Heights (en Español)

As we kick off our in-depth coverage of The Heights, the On the Ground team takes us on an intimate visual tour of the neighborhood and its neighbors.  El equipo de “On the Ground” hizo un recorrido visual por la comunidad para ver qué es lo que hace un lugar ideal para vivir y trabajar, y una ubicación dinámica para los próximos tres meses en un reporte permanente.

Feature Story Brett Hunter and Katie Hargrave host a community meeting to reimagine the center of National Street as the Heights Line biking and pedestrian path connecting Summer to Jackson Avenues (Heights Line Design Studio)

Help us shape our coverage of The Heights at a community newsroom

The On The Ground editorial team from High Ground News will be in The Heights from September through December covering the neighborhoods through online articles, video, photography and live events. Please stop by our weekly community newsroom to share your story ideas and help shape coverage of these dynamic Memphis neighborhoods.

Feature Story Brett Hunter y Katie Hargrave son anfitrionas de una reunión comunitaria para volver a visualizer el centro de National Street como la ruta ciclista y peatonal de Heights Line que conecta Summer con Jackson Avenues (Heights Line Design Studio)

Ayúdenos a dar forma a nuestra cobertura de The Heights en una sala de prensa de la comunidad

El equipo editorial de “On Ground de High Ground News” estará en The Heights de septiembre a diciembre cubriendo los vecindarios a través de artículos en línea, video, fotografía y eventos en vivo.

Feature Story Yasmeen Odeh learns the ropes during a radio workshop led by engineer Jerald White at WMDA 93.5. (Memphis Dawah)

Muslim radio station and cultural center foster community in Whitehaven

The Memphis Dawah Association's Muslim community center is working to improve health, education, and political awareness by providing a safe space, educational events, and its own Whitehaven-based radio station. 

Feature Story (L to R) Ladarius Shields, Cedric Hicks, and Hayden Williams attend a football game at Treadwell Middle. Treadwell is the area's oldest public school, opened in 1915. (Ziggy Mac)

Ascendiendo a nuevas alturas: la historia y la escalada actual del suburbio de tranvías de Memphis

The Heights comenzó en la década de 1890 como un respiro rural para los ricos a lo largo de una larga y olvidada línea de tranvía. Hoy es un vecindario de clase trabajadora que está trabajando en conjunto para establecer un nuevo camino hacia la prosperidad.

Feature Story (L to R) Ladarius Shields, Cedric Hicks, and Hayden Williams attend a football game at Treadwell Middle. Treadwell is the area's oldest public school, opened in 1915. (Ziggy Mack)

Rising to new Heights: The history and current climb of Memphis' streetcar suburb

The Heights began in 1890s as a rural respite for the wealthy along a long since forgotten trolley line. Today it's a working class neighborhood that's working together to lay a new track towards prosperity. 

Feature Story Children listen to a story as part of Cornelia Crenshaw Memorial Library's Real Men Read program. The exterior of Crenshaw and Randolph libraries are in need of attention, but inside, they're bright and active centers of community. (Memphis Library F

Ugly ducklings: Libraries Inside/Out ups the curb appeal at Randolph and Crenshaw libraries

Libraries Inside/Out is investing in exterior improvements to help library branches in The Heights and South City go from eye sores to sources of community pride with unprecedented input from residents.


Feature Story A group of passengers prepares to board a MATA bus at the American Way Transit Center on January 9, 2018. (Brandon Dahlberg)

Memphis-based startup improves breakdown detection in MATA buses

Preteckt, a Start Co. accelerator graduate, has forged a two-year contract with the Memphis Area Transit Authority to provide automotive detection repair technology on public buses.

Feature Story Heights Ride 1

Video: The Heights rides to improve public space (en Español)

"Having a greenline and a bike trail in the middle of National Street is a way to bring two sides of the community together.” The Heights Line is a proposed two-mile median park space on National Street in the Heights area of Memphis. Developers plan to use the existing median, a holdover from when the trolley cut through The Heights, and turn into a park space and a walking/bike path that connects the community to the Broad Avenue Hampline and the Wolf River Greenway.

Feature Story A view from 2017 of a boarded-up house on Bellevue Boulevard in the Klondike neighborhood. (Andrea Morales)

Armed with data, partners find a new strategy to tackle blighted properties

A comprehensive data collecting initiative seeks to look beyond simple code violations in determining the best strategy for abating blighted properties in Memphis. 

Feature Story Reach Out and Read

Video: Memphis pediatricians prescribe books to young patients

Imagine getting a prescription for a book when you go to the doctor. That's what's been taking place for the past five years at Dr. Jason Yaun's clinic at Le Bonheur Children's Hospital. Reach Out and Read is a national early literacy program where doctors give books to children at their well child check ups from the time they are 6 months old to 5 years old.

Feature Story Memphis' first McDonald's, featured here circa 1963, opened in 1958 and was located at 4287 Summer Avenue. (Memphis Landmarks)

Asylums, trolleys & forgotten soldiers: Five facts about The Heights you didn't know

We’re kicking off three months of embedded reporting in The Heights with five incredible historical facts you probably didn’t know. (We sure didn’t!)

Feature Story Mayor Jim Strickland designated Oct. 14 as “Kindred Community Day” to kick off the rebranding of The Exchange Club Family Center. (Kindred Place)

Kindred Place: New name, renewed mission to reduce violence

After a year-and-a-half-long planning process, the Exchange Club has rebranded as Kindred Place, which better reflects the 35-year-old organization’s evolving focus on family support.

Feature Story Amir Gooden is treated by Dr. Jason Yaun at LeBonheur Children's Hospital as part of the Family Resilience Initiative clinic. (Brandon Dahlberg)

New Memphis clinic considers the health effects of adverse childhood experiences

Pediatricians at Le Bonheur Children's Hospital check patients' ears and eyes and then take the time to ask if they have enough to eat at home. In partnership with the University of Tennessee Health Sciences Center, Le Bonheur is undertaking a culture shift to consider the social determinants of health, like poverty, in pediatric care and treatment. 

Feature Story Caritas is located at 2509 Harvard Avenue. The building was originally an masonic lodge. (Shelda Edwards)

Binghampton welcomes return of Caritas Village after 14-month renovation

After a 14-month renovation, Caritas Village is once again open for business, but new windows and electrical aren’t the only changes. New leadership and a streamlined mission hope to make ‘Caritas 2.0’ a sustainable success.

Feature Story The site of the upcoming automotive museum at 645 Marshall. (Brandon Dill)

Development booms in the Edge District

The Edge District, a wedge-shaped neighborhood that lies between Downtown and the Medical District, is enjoying a renaissance of sorts in recent years with a flurry of new construction and ongoing redevelopment of historic buildings.