Back Down Memory Lane

This year, as Stand for Children celebrates its 20th anniversary as an organization, we’d like to take a moment to reflect on our history in Tennessee.

Since 1999, Stand Tennessee has worked to improve schools across Tennessee and achieve legislative and electoral victories for all students across the state. With affiliate offices in both Nashville and Memphis—founded in 2001 and 2005 respectively—we have actively worked to organize the collective power of parents, teachers, and community members to be a voice for children and make lasting changes in our education system.

Here are some of our highlights over the past 15 years:

  • In 2006, Stand played a pivotal role in influencing the Shelby County Commission to vote unanimously to fully fund budget requests for Memphis and Shelby County Schools.
  • In 2008, Stand Nashville secured the release of $100 million in lottery funds to create an “Energy Efficient Schools Initiative” resulting in significant savings to be used to maintain school facilities and build new schools.
     
  • Stand Memphis endorsed and campaigned in 2012 for the new unified school board in Shelby County. Members phone banked, canvassed, worked the polls and reached out to 30,000 likely voters and successfully won 4 out of the 7 seats on the board.
     
  • In the last two election cycles, Stand Nashville has endorsed and supported five successful candidates for the MNPS Board.
  • In 2012, Stand Memphis was one of the first affiliates to launch Stand UP, a 10-week course for a university of parents who want to set their children up for success. The program graduated over 200 parents across the community.
     
  • In 2013, Stand saved 42 pre-K classrooms from closure and gathered over 2000 petition signatures, benefiting 840 children state-wide.
  • Successfully advocated for $70 million in federal funding for pre-K in Tennessee, securing grants for both Memphis and Nashville in 2014.
     
  • This year, Stand Memphis was successful in working with Memphis charter school parents to advocate for the Shelby County Schools Board to pass a charter compact that would start to build a partnership between the district and the charter school it authorizes. In a unanimous decision, the Charter Compact was passed.
     

And this is just the beginning! None of these great things could have happened without the hard work and dedication of our members, community leaders, great staff, and supporters.

As we continue working in Tennessee to ensure that all children have a quality education with access to college or career training, we want you to get involved to see how you can help impact education in your community.

For learn more about Stand for Children Tennessee, visit www.stand.org/tennessee. 

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