View our State of Memphis Report 2007

THE NEEDS ARE GREAT

Poverty

• Memphis has the third highest poverty level of any large city in the U.S.

Unemployment Rates

• Rates for our African Americans citizens are twice the level of other citizens

Income Disparity

• Median household incomes for the highest zip code area are more than 10 times that of the lowest area

Educational Disparity

• Memphis City high schools ranks 118th in the State of Tennessee out of 121 school districts.
• Tennessee schools rank 41st among the 50 states.
• The graduation rate for Memphis high schools is 60% compared to 87% in Shelby County and 76% for the State of Tennessee.

Business Development Disparity

• African Americans comprise 43.8% of the total Memphis MSA population, yet African American businesses collect only 0.8% of total business gross receipts.

Disparity in Healthcare Services

• According to a survey by Christ Community Health Services in 2004, there were two physicians practices serving the Frayser area (Pop. 43,000) while there were 90 physician practices serving Germantown (Pop. 37,000)

Crime

• During 2004, Memphis had fourth highest crime rate in the U.S. for cities larger than 500,000 in population. The 2004 rankings were based on six categories: murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary and car theft. FBI statistics were used to determine all rankings.

Shelby County Birth Statistics

• Over the past 5 years, more than 110 babies were born annually to mothers aged 10-14 years.
• More than 7.500 babies or greater than one-half are born annually to unmarried mothers.
• The infant death rate of more than 12 per thousand is 50% higher than the Tennessee average.
• More than 10% of all births are considered low birth-weight babies.