Stand with us in solidarity 

    We, Bridge Builders CHANGE, are 30 youth fellows from across Greater Memphis who love this city and want to be part of finding solutions to make this place we love even stronger. We have all experienced different injustices in our community. To address these issues, we need to partner with Memphis leadership.

    Here are the issues we have faced:
    • Sexual harassment and assault in our schools, and a feeling of hopelessness to do anything about it.
    • Feeling unsafe and unwelcome in our schools because of our gender and sexuality.
    • Having no say in shaping our schools, even though we have so much insight on what needs to change and what could work. This is especially true for students who are impacted by disproportionate suspensions/expulsions and the school-to-prison pipeline.
    • A lack of representation in our political system, even though these decisions greatly affect us.​

    We believe that youth have unique insight on what’s going on in our schools, city, and juvenile justice system that needs to be heard by the adults who are currently in charge. We want to partner with these governing bodies to help make our community better.

    Here are our asks for our city and schools' leadership:

    • Revisit your sexual harassment policies with the feedback from students who have experienced sexual violence in your schools.
    • Listen to and implement LGBTQ+ student recommendations to make our schools safer and more welcoming for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender students.
    • Add youth as voting members to your school board so that the decisions in our schools are made with the insight and knowledge of youth from your schools.
    • Advocate with us to get 16- and 17-year-olds a vote in local and state elections, making Memphis the third city to have extended voting rights in the United States. 

    Please show your support for our asks to city and school leadership! Throughout the year, we will be working to make this platform happen, and we need to show Memphis leaders that we are not alone!

    Youth, please sign below to tell our leadership that you also believe in this platform!

    Adults, please sign below to show you support this platform and are willing to stand and vote (where we can’t) to hold leaders accountable to listening to youth!

other ways to get involved

the Memphis Activism Calendar

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