Can't get out and explore the city during the pandemic? Take a visual tour through six of our 13 On the Ground neighborhoods to get your Memphis fix.

On the Ground is High Ground's signature series.

Our OTG work embeds local journalists and photojournalists in a Memphis neighborhood for four months. In each community, our photojournalists capture an incredible visual history and the spirit and resilience of the people and places that make each one unique.

Our 13 OTG neighborhoods share one commonality. They're news deserts.

News deserts are areas that are rarely covered by local new outlets unless that coverage is centered on problems like crime, failing schools, or poverty. High Ground's mission is to work with residents to build their community's missing narratives.

We examine challenges and concerns by focusing on the solutions community members are already implementing. We spend our time meeting stakeholders including neighborhood and nonprofit leaders, business owners, government officials, and residents. We ask them to help us identify their communities' most important stories.

Our current OTG neighborhoods are: Binghampton, The Edge, Frayser, The Heights, Hickory Hill, Klondike-Smokey City, Madison Heights, North Memphis, Orange Mound, South City, Soulsville, Uptown & The Pinch, The University District and Whitehaven.

Amidst the pandemic, we haven't been able to get out and visit our favorite folks and locales in our OTG communities. We figured our readers weren't getting out much either, so we've put together this visual "tour" of six of our OTG neighborhoods. 

Visit them here through the lenses of these talent photojournalists: Brandon Dahlberg, Brandon Dill, Natalie Eddings, Ziggy Mack, Malik Martin, John Klyce Minervini, Averell Mondie, Andrea Morales, Renier Otto, and Lauren Turner.

Binghampton

Diners at Caritas Village, 2016. (Lauren Taylor)Children at recess at Binghampton Christian Academy, 2016. (Lauren Turner)Xavier Winston, 2017. (Brandon Dahlberg)

The Edge

Tonya Dyson performs spoken word poetry at The Den, 2017. (Ziggy Mack)

Floyd Alley during The Edge Gets Lit Alley Party, 2017. (Averell Mondie)
Artist Karen Adams insider her studio in The Edge, 2019. (Ziggy Mack)

Frayser

Firefighters in action, 2014. (John Klyce Minervini)
Miles Tamboli teaches teens about urban farming at the Girls, Inc. Frayser Youth Farm, 2016. (John Klyce Minervini)
Left to Right: Frayser resident Gilbert Wright, Frayser CDC Executive Director Steve Lockwood, and Frayser resident Morriston Edmonds at a neighborhood council meeting at the Ed Rice Community Center, 2016. (Brandon Dill)

The Heights

Shoppers in the women's section of the Mid-South Outlet thrift store, 2018. (Natalie Eddings)Left to Right: Dana Merriweather, Judy Conway, and Sidney Johnson at the Mitchell Heights community garden and plant nursery, 2018. (Natalie Eddings)
Treadwell Elementary kindergarteners, 2018. (Renier Otto)

Hickory Hill

A family shops inside the Winchester International Farmers Market, 2019. (Ziggy Mack)
(Bottom to Top, R to L) Alicia Johnson takes selfie of girls night out with Jocelyn Mosby, Victoria Knight, Chryl Howard, and Marla Nolan at In Love Memphis nightclub and lounge, 2019. (Ziggy Mack)
Headlights shine through Delvonte Watson's visor as he awaits the snap at the Ridgeway Cougar's pee wee football practice, 2019. (Malik Martin)

Klondike & Smokey City 

The Bellevue Middle School majorettes perform on March 29 during a foster care awareness parade, 2018. (Brandon Dahlberg)
Jason Ayers high fives a young volunteer at a clean up event in Klondike, 2017. (Andrea Morales)
Azaylia Elias, 1, peeks out over a chair at the Operation Smart Child program at the Neighborhood Christian Center in Smokey City. (Andrea Morales)