ioby "Green Up Memphis Match" activates parks and green spaces

The Memphis chapter of ioby will close its Green Up Memphis Match next week. The campaign highlights community-led projects that improve or create parks and green spaces in Memphis.The public can still support citywide initiatives through monetary donations or volunteer signups. Donated dollars will be matched one-to-one through March 28. 

“The Green Up Memphis Match offers funding beyond the official city park—vacant lots, median strips, and community gardens were also eligible,” said Ellen Roberds, Memphis Action Strategist for ioby. “The process is approachable, accessible, and it’s doable.”

ioby, a national online platform for citizen-led, neighbor-funded projects, received a $33,000 grant through Livable Memphis to provide the match and support neighborhood leaders and grassroots groups in activating public parks and green spaces. 

ioby supports citizens as they identify needs and opportunities in their neighborhoods with the online platform and offline support and plan, fund, and implement local projects that make positive change. A “crowd-resourcing” platform, ioby helps leaders design cost-effective solutions, and raise money and volunteers from friends and neighbors to implement their projects. This special match effort was aimed to spur dozens of additional projects across the city.

There are 24 projects included in the match campaign representing projects in neighborhoods across the city.

Michalyn Easter’s project, Friends of Chelsea Greenline Advocacy Group (FCG), will give North Memphians a stronger voice in determining the design, implementation, usage, maintenance, and community engagement facets of the new 2.5-mile greenway coming to their neighborhood. “North Memphis needs some help in revitalization,” FCG’s campaign page reads, “but the true transformation will always be the privilege and responsibility of true North Memphis citizens.”

First-time ioby leader Jessica Thurman launched Music in the Park Memphis. Thurman and other volunteers will turn an abandoned lot in the New Chicago area of North Memphis into a safe, fun, green space for children of all ages and backgrounds to explore a selection of musical instruments, which will be “installed” in the new park. Jessica’s campaign page calls it “a project to change the mentality of the city and invest in who we have, which are very talented people.”
 ioby has made a clear mark in Memphis since its introduction in 2014. More than 150 Memphians have raised $422,000 through the ioby online platform, with most project budgets under $3000. The national ioby annual report includes countless Memphis mentions.

“ioby accelerates the great work that’s already happening across Memphis at the grassroots level,” said Roberds.

“Memphians, with the help of ioby, have improved parks, planted gardens, created crosswalks, built bus stops, and painted murals. The national arm is intentionally investing in Memphis. It’s time we continue to ‘green up’ our act.”