Receiving the Pillars of Excellence Award from the University of Memphis Law School
Dear Friend, Last Saturday evening, I received the Pillars of Excellence Award from my law school alma mater, the University of Memphis. This week, I visited the Hospitality Hub addressing our community’s homeless population and saw the well-managed effort to meet its needs. I also announced $3.7 million in Head Start grants to Porter-Leath, attended District Attorney Steve Mulroy’s public safety summit, announced a $10.7 million Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) grant to hire Memphis firefighters, joined striking bakery workers on the picket line, attended the Women’s Foundation for a Greater Memphis annual meeting, visited Nucor Steel’s Memphis plant, toured the OUTMemphis Youth Emergency Shelter for LGBTQ youths, remembered my friend the late Governor and Congressman Don Sundquist, wished all my constituents a safe and happy Labor Day, and offered a health tip. Keep reading and follow me on Twitter (X), Facebook, and Instagram (and soon on Threads) to see what I am doing as it happens. Receiving Pillars of Excellence Award from the University of Memphis Law School Visiting the Hospitality Hub to Support its Homelessness Mission Announcing $3.7 Million in Head Start Grants to Porter-Leath Attending Public Safety Summit Announcing $10.7 Million Grant to Hire Memphis Firefighters Supporting Striking Bakery Workers Attending Women’s Foundation for a Greater Memphis Annual Meeting Visiting Nucor Steel Operations in Memphis Touring OUTMemphis Youth Emergency Center Wishing All a Safe and Happy Labor Day Weekend Receiving Pillars of Excellence Award from the University of Memphis Law School At a dinner on Saturday night, I received the Pillars of Excellence Award from my alma mater, the Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law, where I received my law degree in 1973. I commend my fellow 2023 Pillars of Excellence Award winners: Robert L. Dinkelspiel, Mike McLaren, David Wade, and Ruby R. Wharton, and “Friend of the Law School” U.S. District Judge Jon Phipps McCalla. I thank the university for this recognition. See a brief video from the evening here. Visiting the Hospitality Hub to Support its Homelessness Mission On Tuesday, I visited the Hospitality Hub and saw the services made available by the Community Projects funding I secured through the appropriations process. Homelessness remains a serious problem in our community, but the Hospitality Hub is making major progress. I commend its commitment to its mission. Announcing $3.7 Million in Head Start Grants to Porter-Leath On Wednesday, I announced that Porter-Leath will be receiving grants supporting both its Head Start and Early Head Start programs. See my release here. Addressing Public Safety Summit On Thursday, I attended District Attorney Steve Mulroy’s public safety summit and expressed my concern about ongoing crime and violence in our community. A lot of good ideas were discussed, pledges of cooperation were made, and it was a productive and bipartisan conversation. I called for such a summit some months ago, and Thursday’s event was a good step in the right direction. Announcing $10.7 Million Grant to Hire Memphis Firefighters On Thursday, I announced that the City of Memphis has received a $10,795,984 Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to hire additional firefighters. See my release here. Supporting Striking Bakery Workers On Wednesday, I joined striking Bakery Workers Local 399G to show my support for their demands in their dispute with International Flavors and Fragrances. All these workers are asking for is to be treated with fairness and respect, and it felt particularly appropriate to be with them as we approach this year’s Labor Day. I appreciate all the progress that has come from labor union efforts – from ending child labor to the standardization of a five-day work week — and I’ll always side with hardworking people like these. Attending Women’s Foundation for a Greater Memphis Annual Meeting On Thursday morning, I attended the Women’s Foundation for a Greater Memphis’ (WFGM) annual meeting at the University Club. Through philanthropy, leadership, and collaboration, WFGM has been helping women in Memphis break the cycle of poverty and reach their full potential since its founding in 1995. They work with hundreds of organizations locally and nationally to improve the lives of women and girls in our city and across the U.S., and I was glad for a chance to join them on Thursday. Visiting Nucor Steel Operations in Memphis Nucor Steel is the nation’s largest steel manufacturer and I was able to see the impressive Memphis operation myself during a tour of its facilities adjacent to T.O. Fuller State Park on Wednesday. Nucor’s work is particularly important right now—from ramped-up infrastructure projects under Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, to the push for more clean energy technology like windmills and solar panels, to the nationwide effort to increase American microchip production, we’re relying on domestic steel production to fuel all sorts of priorities. Nucor employs more than 500 here in Memphis, and their work is helping make these big goals a reality. Touring OUTMemphis Youth Emergency Center Later Wednesday, I visited the OUTMemphis Youth Emergency Shelter. The dedicated staff there is addressing homelessness among LGBTQ youth here in Memphis, and I was pleased to see its evident success. I was concerned, however, to hear that OUTMemphis, along with its partners and allies in the community, are experiencing a frightening uptick in targeted hate and harassment. This is part of a nationwide trend, but it’s troubling to know that it’s affecting people in our own community—especially women and girls of color. We discussed the importance of speaking loud and clear against hate—in our everyday lives and at the ballot box—as well as efforts at the federal level to make funding available to help organizations like these harden their security against hate groups and violent extremists. My friend, former Governor and Congressman Don Sundquist, passed on Sunday. I put out a statement and attended the visitation and his memorial service on Thursday. He was a good man and accomplished many good things for our state. Wishing All a Safe and Happy Labor Day Weekend As we enter the Labor Day weekend, I wish everyone a safe and happy holiday. With September recognized as Healthy Aging Month, it is helpful to know about some of the issues you may experience as you and your loved ones get older. From physical and cognitive decline to preventing injuries, find more information about improving quality of life for older adults here, “You are doing many things here in this struggle. You are demanding that this city will respect the dignity of labor. So often we overlook the work and the significance of those who are not in professional jobs, of those who are not in the so-called big jobs. But let me say to you tonight, that whenever you are engaged in work that serves humanity and is for the building of humanity, it has dignity, and it has worth… “You are reminding, not only Memphis, but you are reminding the nation that it is a crime for people to live in this rich nation and receive starvation wages. And I need not remind you that this is our plight as a people all over America… “You are here tonight to demand that Memphis will do something about the conditions that our brothers face as they work day in and day out for the well-being of the total community. You are here to demand that Memphis will see the poor.” – Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., addressing striking sanitation workers and their supporters at the Bishop Charles Mason Temple in Memphis on March 18, 1968. As always, I remain. Steve Cohen |