Livable Memphis and ioby launch Create Memphis

Livable Memphis and ioby, the online crowd-funding platform for neighborhood development ideas, have launched their Create Memphis initiative, an online tool for people to share and develop ideas.
 
"It's an expansion of our services now," says Erin Barnes, Co-founder and Executive Director of ioby. “ioby is designed, basically, to support people who have an idea that is pretty well formed, that has at least a beginning to a plan and, most importantly, a specific budget. Because we're working intentionally in partnership with Livable Memphis this year, part of our partnership agreement is that we wanted to be able to reach a broader network of people in Memphis."
 
Create Memphis, then, is a sort of "idea map," explains ioby Creative Placemaker Ellen Roberds, who was at Tennessee Brewery Untapped one recent Sunday to talk with people about the initiative and allow them to sign up with their own ideas. The website features a map with markers over areas where people have ideas for bettering their neighborhoods. Anyone can put up an idea, and others can vote to support that idea, but at that stage there is no commitment. What Livable Memphis and ioby hope is that someone with the resources and drive will take up the flag and run with it.
 
"A lot of times someone puts up an idea but they’re not going to do it," says Roberds. "But someone else might."
 
Those posting their ideas and visions will be contacted by a representative of the organizations to find out just how committed they are. If that commitment is there, Roberds will be in touch to help further shape the concept and get it online for funding.
 
The Create Memphis campaign is housed within the Community Development Council and is funded by the Hyde Family Foundation and the Community Foundation of Greater Memphis.
 
The online tools and idea behind the initiative have their roots in campaigns such as the U Map It! Project of the Midsouth Greenprint and Facebook's Make Memphis! community page.
 
"We recognize that for a long time Memphians have been contributing to making Memphis a more livable, sustainable place to live," Barnes says. "... there's a lot of energy and enthusiasm around, and contributing ideas to improving Memphis, and we wanted the Create Memphis campaign to be an opportunity to build on that excitement and enthusiasm."
 
To learn more about Create Memphis, and to post or support an idea, visit memphis.ioby.org.