Memphis Good News Round Up: A Land Trust, a Launch, and a Record Gift

Memphis had a week! 👏🏾 A groundbreaking in Orange Mound on a house built to stay affordable, a brand new free training program for young adults, and one of the biggest gifts St. Jude has ever received, all inside a few days. Here is the good stuff happening in the 901 right now.

1. Orange Mound Land Trust Breaks Ground on Its First Home 🏠

ABODE groundbreaking, September 8, 2026, 1390 Marechalneil Street, Orange Mound.

Shovels hit dirt on September 8 at 1390 Marechalneil Street 🛠️ for the first home under ABODE, the Orange Mound Community Land Trust. Here is the part that makes it different: the family owns the house, the trust holds the land, and the resale terms keep the price reachable for whoever comes next. So it does not get flipped out of the neighborhood five years from now. Three bedrooms, two baths, energy efficient, accessible features built in. And it is going up in Orange Mound, known as one of the first neighborhoods in the country built by and for African Americans, which makes a land trust rooted in ownership hit different here! ❤️

The builder, Carlos Fifer, grew up a couple of blocks away. Eleven more ABODE properties are lined up behind this one, with a community meeting coming this fall. Orange Mound is building on its own terms! 🙌🏿

Good News Source: The Tri State Defender

2. Nextup 901 Launches Free Career Training for Young Adults 💼

NextUp 901 launched September 10 at Crosstown Concourse.

The City of Memphis and Collective Blueprint cut the ribbon on NextUp 901 September 10 at Crosstown Concourse 🎓, built for the young Memphians stuck in that gap between school and a real paycheck. Free career prep and paid training in healthcare, IT, and the trades, open to ages 18 to 30. And the smart part: childcare, transportation, and coaching come with it, because plenty of folks want the training and just cannot get to the building. That is how a program actually works! 🙌🏽

The goal is 5,000 people trained by 2030! Applications and details live at nextup901.org 📱 Pass it to a young person who needs it.

Good News Source: Action News 5

3. Chili's Commits $150 Million to St. Jude ❤️

The Chili's Clinical Center at St. Jude opens February 2027.

Chili's just committed $150 million over 15 years to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital 🏦, funding the Chili's Clinical Center that opens on the Memphis campus in February 2027. And the whole thing started right here in 2002, when Memphis team members ran the very first Create A Pepper fundraiser! Since then: more than $130 million raised, with three million individual donations in the past year alone.

That history is already on the campus map. The Chili's Care Center opened in 2007 as the first building at St. Jude named for a corporate partner, and the St. Jude Imagine Academy by Chili's keeps patients in school from preschool through twelfth grade.

A $150 million pledge that traces back to a coloring sheet, a box of crayons, and a Memphis restaurant crew with an idea!

Good News Source: PR Newswire

4. Memphis Is Building a Brighter Tomorrow 🔨

Habitat for Humanity of Greater Memphis is helping drive the push toward 10,000 homes by 2030.

Mayor Paul Young put a number on it: 10,000 homes built or renovated by 2030 🏠. Habitat for Humanity of Greater Memphis is carrying a heavy share of that load, and the receipts are long. 650 plus new homes since 1983. Repairs and modifications for more than 1,800 senior homeowners so they can stay in the houses they already love. Around $400 million in community impact. Out of 900 plus Habitat affiliates in the country, Memphis sits at number 25! 💪🏼

Next chance for local leaders to trade the desk for a hammer is the CEO Build on October 9! The full story on how housing touches everything else is right here.

Good News Source: Choose901

That Is a Wrap on This Week

Four stories, one common thread ✨ Memphians building things meant to outlast the ribbon cutting, the press release, and the news cycle. More good news next week, same place!