MATA Public Hearings Bring Attention To Priority Crises
Memphis Area Transit Authority has historically been able to accommodate the trend of eastwardly moving jobs for its riders, 90% of whom are people of color, a majority, women who earn below poverty level income. MATA’s most populated and often overcrowded route is the 50 Poplar which acts as a pipeline for transporting workers from the North End Terminal downtown to jobs in East Memphis. However, most of these riders are not from neighborhoods around the North End Terminal. They travel inbound from distant neighborhoods some tens of miles away. The buses that get them to the North End Terminal are lifelines for these riders. Due to recent cuts in local and federal funding, MATA will be reducing these routes drastically.
This July MATA hosted two public hearings in one week for residents to comment on proposed cuts to bus service. Each hearing drew over 150 people and many went on the record giving their own proposals and concerns about our shrinking bus system. Memphis Bus Riders Union did weeks of canvassing to make sure that as many people as possible could plan to attend this opportunity to speak face-to-face with MATA officials. But MBRU organizers had no illusions that these public hearings would address the real problem of budget cuts. “We’ve got people in low income communities who are already under served, who are going to be cut off from their jobs, cut off from their grocery stores, cut off from city services these are people who already are down in society,” explained Shahin Samiei, Memphis Bus Riders Union. “City council has been cutting MATA’s budget for years now and this is the problem, this is the outcome,” added Samiei.
In response to a great deal of coverage from the local news outlets, some council members made statements of their own. Councilman Harold Collins and TN State Rep. Joe Towns addressed the public with promises to prioritize public transportation in the future. “Maybe we stay with the commitments we have now, but going forward I think it should be an adjustment made on the PILOTs and the length of them and the amount of percentages the City of Memphis relieves,” said Memphis City Councilman Harold Collins about MBRU’s proposals that funding for public transportation could be found in the millions of dollars Memphis gives away in tax incentives to corporations like International Paper and Electrolux. Councilman Lee Harris, who’s district continues to suffer from lack of bus service said in an interview that the City Council needs to “form a separate transportation committee just to make sure we didn’t get into a bind like this one where we’re shocked and surprised that there’s going to be such dramatic cuts that are going to effect hundreds and hundreds of families, not to mention, the 40 or 50 folks at MATA that are going to be laid off as a result of this.”
Memphis Bus Riders Union is urging the public to attend the MATA board meeting Wednesday, August 7th at 3:30 pm at the Central Station, 545 S. Main at the corner of GE Patterson. MATA’s board of commissioners will be voting on the proposed changes. We hope the board will consider postponing the vote as we push Mayor AC Wharton and the City Council to release enough funding to restore MATA’s budget and stop the cuts.
Grassroots Organizers Training for Power, is a unique training in the Mid-South, the only one offered in Spanish for developing community organizing skills.
The Community-Police Relations project is a groundbreaking partnership between citizens and law enforcement officers that is challenging both groups to overcome their differences and distrust to work together on the deepest problems of our community.
After each forum participants are invited to be a part of the Community Engagement group representing their community. The Community Engagement group will later join the CPR Core Group to discuss recommendations toward reconciliation. The first Community Engagement meeting will be held Saturday, August 31st at 1000 S. Cooper from 12-2pm
Sign up to volunteer 
The H.O.P.E. Garden Crew has taken off! Members have been educating themselves about the sustainable food movement, working in community gardens throughout the city, and laying the groundwork for their own garden in Midtown, where many of our members reside. Right now, the Garden Crew is planning a community outreach effort and ‘garden party’ to get input and involvement from the surrounding neighborhood.
On July 20th, H.O.P.E. members organizing with our ‘Street-Watch’ project hosted their third ‘Know Your Rights’ workshop at Cathedral of Grace Church on East Person, near Hamilton High School in South Memphis. Special thanks to Courtney Golden, Subliminal Thought Organizer, Brandon Shaw, Isaac Kimes, and Josh Spickler with the 
H.O.P.E. is the name of a Mid-South Peace and Justice Center-sponsored organization whose members are exclusively people currently homeless or have formerly experienced homelessness. For over a year now, H.O.P.E. has been organizing and agitating around the issues that are a priority to the homeless community. For meeting times and dates, call 901-300-0006.
Once again, funding for desperately needed homeless services is on the chopping block, and H.O.P.E. is calling on you for assistance!
We are proud to announce that the 2013 Gandhi-King Conference will take place October 18-19 at BRIDGES in Memphis, TN. The conference will feature a Youth Conference on Friday specially tailored for middle and high school aged youth.
For the second year in a row, H.O.P.E. (Homeless Organizing for Power & Equality) has successfully secured critical funding in the Shelby County budget for homeless services. Last year H.O.P.E. won historic levels of county funding, paving the way for major initiatives such as the 100 Homes Campaign, the creation of 69 new units of supportive housing for families experiencing homelessness, and the creation of a special Veterans Court.
H.O.P.E. is the name of a Mid-South Peace and Justice Center-sponsored organization whose members are exclusively people who are currently homeless or have formerly experienced homelessness. For over a year now, H.O.P.E. has been organizing and agitating around the issues that are a priority to the homeless community. For meeting times and dates, call 901-300-0006.
The experience of homelessness is uniquely different for women. This is especially true in Memphis where there are few, if any, services for homeless single women who do not have a substance abuse issue. 92% of women experiencing homelessness have suffered severe physical and/or sexual abuse, and dealt with issues of sexual harassment within in the homeless services system.