- This month on The Spark, our theme is "United We Thrive".

We'll learn about a nonprofit hosting a large annual event aimed at bringing the city together.

A nonprofit providing one-on-one coaching and a journey of self improvement and growth for youth and an organization helping children reach their academic goals and empowering women through the English language to build friendships and community.

We'll also share a special moment from our Spark Awards 2024.

- From Higginbotham's founding in 1948, our insurance agency has been built on the values of customer service, leading with integrity and supporting our community.

We believe in promoting the positives, encouraging engagement and leading by example to power the good.

Higginbotham Insurance and Financial Services is honored to be the presenting sponsor of The Spark.

- (male announcer) Additional funding for The Spark is provided by United Way of the Mid-South, EcOp, The Memphis Zoo, My Town Movers, My Town Roofing, and by First Tee Tennessee Memphis.

- Have you ever been excited by a new idea?

Inspired by watching someone lead by example?

When we talk about creating change, we start by sharing the stories of everyday heroes who are making a difference in their own way so we can learn and do the same.

I'm Jeremy Park, and this is The Spark.

They're a nonprofit hosting a large annual event aimed at bringing our city together.

We're here with the co-founder and CEO of Unite Memphis, Karin Conlee, and let's start out.

Give us some history for Unite Memphis.

- Hey, Jeremy.

Absolutely.

So back in 2019, I had the opportunity to come to some leadership at the Grizzlies and the Civil Rights Museum and just said, "Hey, we wanna create an event "that every single Memphian can be proud of, "something that brings healing, honor, and hope to the city of Memphis."

At that time, we were branded Race for Reconciliation, and this year, as we're moving into our fourth event, we've just spent the last year rebranding.

We're now Unite Memphis, and really, it's because while our flagship event is a 5K or 1-mile race or walk, we look forward to adding other elements to what we do.

We have next-step events, but we've got a Unite Memphis concert and some other things coming our way, and so we're just excited about seeing how this has begun to build into something that we really feel like is gonna move the needle in Memphis.

- Talk about why unity, uniting for healing, for hope, all of this, why is this so important to our community?

- Well, Jeremy, every city has problems, okay?

But there is not any single problem that is unsolvable if people believe that it can be solved, and so hope is really an important thing, and all of us have been impacted by the negative narrative.

I think anybody in Memphis can see the power of that, and this really is the antidote to that.

If we just stay isolated and listen to all of the negative reports, people grow weary, and they think, can I, as a person, actually do anything about this, or is this somebody else's problem?

And so it's important for us to come together, honestly, because vision leaks, and people need to look around and realize we are actually full of a city of people who really care, and that together, we can move the city forward.

So we're bringing every element of the city, government, education, business, nonprofit, faith, and when you bring all of those elements to one place and you look around and you realize, you know what, we can absolutely conquer any problem that we have, and Memphis's best days can be in front of us.

So it's important that people come and be reminded and be inspired to continue doing good in their own circle.

- So let's dive into the details for this year's event, and it happens on a very special day for the Mid-South, 901 Day, so talk about the details for this year's event.

- Yeah, we are thrilled because it is so in alignment with our mission.

So yes, September 1st, it's a Monday, it is Labor Day, is also 901 Day, and so it's a fantastic way to start that holiday to come out and do something good for your city.

And this year, we have entered into a partnership with the National Civil Rights Museum.

And so we are gonna actually move our event about a block over from where we were last year and start and finish the event at the Civil Rights Museum.

It'll be a fun, family-friendly opportunity to come out.

It's a blast, and it will be a way for you to bring your family and be inspired to see all the good that's happening in Memphis.

You don't even have to be a runner, you can be a walker.

Just come out if you wanna see Memphis and have its best days in front of us.

- Give us one more thing about the experience that you want everyone to know.

- I think what is most important to me is that a lot of times people say, "I don't think I can do anything that makes a difference."

But honestly, your presence actually matters.

If we, last year we had 43% growth, we had about 1,700 people come out for this event.

If we hit 2,500, we will be the largest walk or run in unity in the country.

And that is very achievable, but not if you just agree it's a good idea.

It's only achievable if people actually come out.

And so you really can do good for a pretty small amount of money.

And the other element is we want the next generation to see that they can be a part of investing in Memphis' future and bring us into a new future.

And so it's important no matter what your age is to come out and model that for the next generation.

And then we are working on getting college students, high school students, and different teams out so that our Memphis young adults don't have Memphis continue to be an exit city, but it is a city where they wanna stay, where they see that they can be a part of the solution and that we can have a thriving community and Memphis be what we all desire it to be.

- So obviously our participation, that's one way to definitely help Unite Memphis, but how else can the community support Unite Memphis?

- Well, you're right.

Coming out, being there is one.

Sponsorships, absolutely.

The more that we can cover those expenses, the more that we can go to our city partners.

Also to spread the word, we have media kits and we have done everything so that whether you're an organization or an individual, everything is at our website that you can help share that vision.

And so as we are moving into the 60-day ramp up to our event on 901 Day, share it on your social media.

And then honestly, it's also an opportunity for each of us as an individual to practice doing something that all of us should do every day.

Invite somebody to come with you.

A personal invitation matters because at the end of the day, every Memphian wants the same thing.

We want a safe city.

We want great schools.

We want great homes.

We want the best for our children.

And so there is so many similarities and yet we focus on the differences.

And so it's a great opportunity as an individual to do something that matters and make a difference in our city.

- Well, where do we go to learn more and get involved with Unite Memphis?

- All right, go to UniteMemphis.com.

You'll find all the information there to register, to sponsor the media kit.

And that's the easiest way to do it.

You can also follow us on Instagram or Facebook at Unite Memphis and love to have your help making a difference in this city.

- Well, Karin, thank you for all you and your amazing team and family do to power the good.

Thank you for coming on the show.

- Oh, thanks for having me.

[upbeat music] - They're a nonprofit providing one-on-one coaching and a journey of self-improvement and growth for youth.

We're here with the founder of Boundless Kids, Katherine Parker, and let's start.

Give us some background.

Give us a little bit of history for Boundless Kids.

- Yeah, hey, Jeremy, thanks for having me on here today.

So we started Boundless Kids about three and a half years ago, and it came out of a need that we saw.

I've been involved in business coaching over the last eight and a half years.

And one thing that we realized in growing a business, in order to do that, you have to grow the people inside of the business.

So my husband and I started an organization, Boundless, where we are focused on helping high-performing individuals become even more high-performing.

And through that work, a lot of the parents asked, like, "How do I get my kids involved in this?

"How do I teach my kids at a young age, "the habit of sitting down and thinking about things that they want to be true in their future?"

And not just thinking about those things, but actually making those things come true.

And so we put that upon ourselves to start Boundless Kids.

And that is the work that we do with them.

We teach them the habit of not just goal setting, but goal achievement.

- So you have one-on-one coaching.

You have technology.

There's a lot that goes into this.

So go ahead and dive into the model for Boundless Kids.

- Yeah, absolutely.

So each child is paired one-on-one with a Boundless Kids coach.

And we get together four times a year on Zoom or on Microsoft Teams, and we take them through a process.

And through that process, we help them identify, here are their strengths, here are things that they're passionate about, here are things that they want to accomplish.

And the outcome of each of those calls is that the child leaves with a set of seasonal goals for them to go and work on, and also a very detailed step-by-step plan for how they'll actually achieve their goal.

A few things that we really work to teach the kids that we work with is keeping commitments to themselves.

So if they say they're gonna do something, the importance of actually getting that thing done.

And we talk a lot about personal accountability.

- So obviously you have a chance to see many success stories.

Give us one more.

- I'll jump to the success story in just a second.

But we work with two different types of kids.

We call them privileged and kids in an underserved community.

So the types of goals and success stories we have are drastically different depending on the child and depending on the situation.

So we do have one child.

He's been in the program now for the last three and a half years.

And he first came to us with an idea of wanting to start a bakery.

And at the time he was like, I think this would be cool.

He and his mom really bond in the kitchen over baking.

And three and a half years later, he now has a website.

He's taking orders through his website.

He's learning how to track revenue and the cost of goods and what it takes to actually run a business.

And he's 13 years old, which is pretty cool.

And we have lots of other liberal stories like that.

It's not always tied to running your own business.

They could be anything.

And I think when you can give a kid that type of attention and teach them and coach them to work through issues by themselves, with the guidance of an adult, you're really setting them up to have a much more successful future.

- You all also have the Boundless Farm here in the Mid-South, talk about that.

- Yes, I love this.

We just had our summer Boundless Family Day where we invited families and children all to come out.

We spent a Friday and Saturday together out here and doing lots of fun things.

But we have a property out in Eads, Tennessee.

It's 111 acres and we have a 10-acre fully stocked pond.

So we teach kids how to fish.

We teach adults how to fish.

We spend a lot of time together with groups in the kitchen, teaching them about food and making meals and sharing that time with each other.

And then we always come back to being focused on growth.

How can we improve ourselves?

How can we create the life that we want to live and putting a very systematic approach in place to make those things happen?

But our property is open to the public if they want to come out here and host events, whether it's business events, forum events, anything like that, that is something that we are working really, really hard to build and get the word out there that it's available for that.

- So how can the community help Boundless Kids?

- Yeah, I love it.

So we are always looking for partnerships.

So looking for partnerships to gain access to underserved kids in the communities around here.

We are also always looking for paying kids to be in the program.

And one thing that we do is anytime a family has the ability to pay for their child to go through the program, it automatically scholarships an underserved child to be in the program too.

So we are working in tandem with those two types of communities.

And the other cool part about this is when we do our in-person events, we bring those two worlds together.

So we are building and forming relationships with those two communities that probably otherwise would never run into each other.

So that's something else that we're doing.

- Wrap up with website and where we can go to learn more and get involved with Boundless Kids.

- Yes, yes.

So boundlesskids.org is our website.

Katherine@boundlesskids.org is my email address.

And you can also go to boundlessfarm.com and then you would be able to see the website of the property that we have.

- Well, Katherine, thank you for all you and your amazing team to power the good.

Thank you for coming on the show.

- Thanks, Jeremy.

[upbeat music] - The Spark Awards annually recognize and celebrate individuals and organizations that have made outstanding contributions to the community.

The 2024 Education School Award went to Music Box.

[upbeat music] - My name is Yelena Ovando and my husband, Alex Ovando and I co-founded Music Box five years ago together with our then small children, not so small anymore.

Right now we have two school locations.

One of them is in Germantown, one of them is in Collierville.

And we teach about 350 students at any given time, employ about 15 teachers.

Music Box is a school on stage, what we call ourselves.

We provide music instruction through music lesson programs and camps and a band program and other meaningful enrichment music instruction.

The way we do it is through teaching music as a language.

So students at our school learn how to read music, how to play with others, how to write music.

We teach music production because we want to raise a holistic musician of a future.

We are having fun at Music Box and all of our facilities are equipped with safe and inspiring and creative instruction spaces.

We have professional equipment and gear and technology and tools available.

All of our instruments are connected and we intentionally utilize growth mindset to supplement the music instruction because you can only learn from a fun, exciting, motivated space.

Music Box teaches everything that goes into a modern band.

So that is your piano, guitar, bass guitar, vocals and drum set, music production, music orchestration.

We do a lot of things that are outside the box and focused on the future musician.

For example, we teach how to be an influencer, how to be responsible when podcasting, how to publish and copyright your own music.

So it is important because music is wonderful and enriching the lives and makes lives better, but it also helps you build those essential skills beyond just music notes, like emotional intelligence, like confidence, like ability to find your identity, foster it and practice it in a very safe, nurturing, creative environment.

And that's what Music Box offers to our community.

Sometimes we feel like the days are long and the challenges are vast and overwhelming, but the reward on the other side, where you see impact that you make when you see one student at a time, one teacher at a time, one partner at a time thrive and the lives are impacted for the better, it's all worth it.

My word of advice would be have faith in yourself, have faith in your community and your partner.

Always assume positive intent and just keep chugging along.

[upbeat music] - They're an organization helping children reach their academic goals and empowering women through the English language to build friendships and community.

We're here with the Executive Director of Multinational Memphis, Devin Schniepp.

And let's start out, give us some history for Multinational Memphis.

- Yes, thank you for having me.

Yeah, Multinational has been around in the community for almost or nearly 30 years.

We really started in a grassroots way of just helping families who are being resettled here in the '90s, and that was mostly Southeast Asian refugees.

At that time, Catholic Charities was resettling families in the Midtown area.

So from there, it really developed into meeting specific needs of the community.

And so the afterschool program developed to help kids with their homework and just other academic needs and also adult language classes for women.

That was a big need for the community.

And so those two programs have really grown and become who we are.

- Let's dive in, especially with the youth.

Let's start there.

And so you have afterschool programs.

You also have a summer camp.

So go ahead and dive into the work you do with the youth.

- Yeah, so during the school year, we have afterschool programming throughout the week.

We work with all grades, kindergarten through 12th grade students.

So when they come to the program, that includes homework help, but also some basic reading and math skills practice through a curriculum that we've developed.

The kids do arts and crafts every day.

That's an important part of our program.

And we also just have a highly relational program.

So our teachers have intentionally seek to build up students and build their confidence.

We work on social emotional skills and just really care for the whole child.

And yeah, in the summertime, we kind of get to extend that program into four to five weeks of a full day of a summer camp kind of program.

So the kids, we provide transportation.

We bring them here.

They come in in the morning and we have a full day of activities that include reading.

Specifically this summer, we're doing something called Reader's Theater.

So they're practicing lines in a play.

Which practices their reading skills.

And then they get to perform the plays at the end of summer camp.

And then they do science activities.

We're building a garden.

They're planting seeds.

We do different lessons and hands-on activities.

A lot of really more involved arts and crafts.

Since we have more time with them, they get to do a lot of painting.

And today, for example, we're tie-dying T-shirts.

So it's a lot of fun.

And every Friday we go on a field trip out in the community.

- Let's switch over and talk about the work you do with women and empowering them through the English language.

Go ahead and dive in deeper there.

- Yeah, so with that program, twice a week we have four or five levels of English classes.

We also provide transportation to that program as well, if women need it.

So they come and if they have pre-school-age children, they can bring them with them.

And we have childcare and a pre-school classroom to care for the children and also teach them some basic skills that they'll need when they go into kindergarten.

But in the English classes, we provide those different levels to meet women where they're at, hopefully with however much English they know.

And it's also a very community-building time.

So because it's all women, it's unique and special in that way.

We do that to meet the needs of some of our women culturally that need to only interact among women and not with men.

But we've also seen it just build a really strong community.

And not only are our teachers are teaching English, but they're also helping these women navigate different things that may come up for them, whether that's helping their children with something in the school system or maybe seeking a higher education.

If they come from having a higher education in their own country and language, we can kind of help them navigate what it looks like here to seek out a degree or get their GED or things like that.

- Talk about the higher purpose for the work you do in terms of building community, building friendships, but also too, sharing God's love and helping them fall in love with Memphis.

And so talk about that higher purpose for Multinational Memphis.

- Yeah, yeah.

So we're based on the biblical principle.

We're a Christian organization, but the call Jesus has for us to love our neighbors, how important that is and sharing the love of God with them that way.

And so the way we're doing that is creating the space, the practical help we give through the program, but also it's a space where we want all people from every language, culture, religious background to feel welcomed, to feel loved.

So that is the culture of who we are and the basis of what we believe.

And yeah, that really comes into play with how we interact, how our staff interact with the kids and their families and the women.

And it's just the feeling when you're in here, when you come in, yeah.

- So how can the community help Multinational Memphis?

- Yeah, so we always need volunteers.

Especially with the kids and the afterschool program.

Ideally, we'd love to see them getting one-on-one attention, help with homework and working on their reading.

So that's a great way to start.

And on our website, you can fill out a form to learn how to become a volunteer.

We can also use volunteers with English classes as well, but yeah, reach out to us online, find out how to volunteer.

We're also always trying to spread the word about who we are and increase our donor base, our financial support as well.

- Well, where do we go to take those next steps and get involved with Multinational Memphis?

- Yeah, you can go to www.multinationalmemphis.org.

You can also stay up to date on what's happening with us on Facebook, Multinational Memphis, and Instagram in multinational_901.

- Well, Devin, thank you for all you and your amazing team do to power the good.

Thank you for coming on the show.

- Thank you for having me.

[upbeat music] - Anything becomes possible when our community comes together, when hearts open, when hands reach out, and when people and organizations work together with a shared vision for a bright future.

From the vibrant dreams of our youth to the courageous efforts of those building bridges across the cultures and neighborhoods in our city, one truth remains clear, we are stronger together.

That's why we're fortunate to have so many individuals and organizations here in our community focused on fostering unity and growth.

Unite Memphis reminds us that justice, healing, honor, and hope begins with connection.

Boundless Kids shows us how youth can achieve at the highest levels through coaching and goal-setting and how leadership is not confined by age.

And Multinational Memphis proves that every culture has a place at the table here in our community as they help families feel accepted, to get to know and love Memphis, achieve academic success, learn to read and speak English, to make friends, and to feel God's love.

When we stand together in Memphis, when we stand united, we thrive.

So how can you help unite our city and where can you help power the good and become a spark?

To learn more about each of the guests, to watch past episodes, and to share your stories of others leading by example, visit wkno.org and click on the link for The Spark.

We look forward to seeing you next month and we hope that you'll continue joining with us to create a spark for the Mid-South.

- From Higginbotham's founding in 1948, our insurance agency has been built on the values of customer service, leading with integrity, and supporting our community.

We believe in promoting the positives, encouraging engagement, and leading by example to power the good.

Higginbotham Insurance and Financial Services is honored to be the presenting sponsor of The Spark.

[upbeat music] [acoustic guitar chords]