Blight Zero: Project Clean-City Grant Program

In 2024, the City of Memphis launched its newly established Blight Zero Initiative that consists of taking city services such as Public Works, Solid Waste, Public Service Corp, etc., and saturating those services in neighborhoods that have been identified as longstanding chronically blighted areas within the city.

Through the Blight Zero: Project Clean-City Grant Program, grantees who are awarded funds will support the City of Memphis in cleaning and maintaining blighted areas in their respective district. Grantees should have existing capacity to complete jobs such as landscaping, hauling, or other general contracting services deemed necessary to address blight. Grantees should also have the ability and capacity to complete routine activities such as:

1. Removal of roadside litter
2. Removal of leaves and debris from drains and gutters
3. Removal of illegally dumped trash/debris
4. Removal of illegally dumped tires
5. Vacant lot overgrowth mitigation
6. Removal of leaves and other debris from vacant lots
7. Right of Way (ROW)/impassable sidewalk overgrowth mitigation.

The Peace Project is a two-year implementation plan to significantly change the trajectory of our city and better the lives of the people in our city.

In year one, we will prioritize restoring visual peace through neighborhood beautification. We will start by asking our community faith leaders to help create a more peaceful city by Owning Your Block.

This initiative asks that we all reclaim the areas around our homes, businesses, and houses of worship. It encourages each of us to take personal responsibility for restoring beauty to our neighborhoods by picking up trash, pulling weeds, mowing overgrown lots, and addressing lighting and other indicators of disinvestment.

We will kick off this work with a city-wide Own Your Block event on Oct 19, where we will ask everyone to work in their own communities and neighborhoods to create a more peaceful city. We are asking the faith community to lead these initial efforts.

We’ll complete the first event, learn from the experience, make improvements, and plan more Own Your Block events. We didn’t start our community transformation efforts with neighborhood beautification because it is easy – we know it will be challenging.

We are beginning with clean-up and blight remediation because seeing a beautiful neighborhood, a clean, well-lit street, and a maintained sidewalk creates a clear signal that the space is loved, that the space is watched, and that the space is safe.

Creating beauty and peace sends a signal that loved neighborhoods do not welcome bad actors or bad actions. Loved neighborhoods combat crime. Loved neighborhoods welcome peace.

We are starting with blight and beautification – because both are closely tied to perceptions of public safety. This blight remediation work is part of our war on crime. And today, we are recruiting warriors.

We would love it if you would share your progress toward reclaiming YOUR block. We have included social examples and assets to help make sharing easier! Use your own photos, use your own words, but please tag the City of Memphis in your posts and use the hashtags below.

Thank you for joining us – we are better together.

Please tag us: 

Instagram – citymemphis
Facebook – MEMCity
LinkedIn – City of Memphis

Use hashtags: 

#OwnYourBlockMemphis
#MemphisPeaceProject

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