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245 Facts About Memphis

The Pink Panda | Adobe Stock

A good fact is hard to find, especially in these truth-fluid times. But it’s nice to know there are a few solid ones you can stand upon. 

That was my thinking as I pitched this story to our editor, Shara Clark. Then I started compiling these facts and realized even some of them can be fluid. A classic example: Which was the first rock-and-roll song, “Rocket 88” or “That’s All Right”? Either one still makes Memphis the “birthplace of rock-and-roll,” though. Right?

Also, some data rhyme and you have to pick them apart. Example: The current graduation rate for Memphis-Shelby County Schools is 87.3 percent. But the Memphis population with only a high school degree is 31 percent. Both facts are listed as just “Memphis graduates” in a couple of datasets. 

Keep all this in mind as you peruse our list of facts. We’ve tried hard to hit the middle of the dartboard. But nailing down a fact can be a slippery thing sometimes. So if you have a quibble and you’d like to discuss, or if we’re plain wrong and you’d like a correction or clarification, please email me at toby@memphisflyer.com. — Toby Sells

History

• Original inhabitants: Chickasaw Nation

• First European explorer: Spanish conquistador Hernando de Soto (1541)

• Ceded from the Chickasaws to the U.S. in the Jackson Purchase (1818)    

• City founded in 1819 by John Overton, James Winchester, and Andrew Jackson

• Named after the ancient capital of Egypt on the Nile River 

• Original name (anglicized as Men-nefer) means “enduring and beautiful”

• Modern city incorporated as a city: 1826

• Yellow fever epidemics: late 1870s

• Surrendered its charter: 1879

• New city charter granted: 1893

• Elvis Presley records “That’s All Right” at Sun Studio in 1954; widely considered to be the first rock-and-roll record ever recorded 

• Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination: April 4, 1968, at the Lorraine Motel

• Motel opened as National Civil Rights Museum in 1991

Photo: R. Gino Santa Maria / Shutterfree, Llc | Dreamstime.com

Geography and Land 

• Total area: 302 square miles (land, 295 square miles; water, 7.6 square miles)

• Elevation: 337 feet above sea level

• Sited on the Fourth Chickasaw Bluff

• Water source: Memphis Sand Aquifer

• The aquifer spans more than 7,000 square miles under eight states

• Water age: typically over 2,000 years old

• Its pure drinking water was deemed “the sweetest in the world”

• Aquifer volume: more than 100 trillion gallons, enough to cover all of Shelby County up to the top of Clark Tower

• Number of extreme heat days: 20 (2022)

• Number of extreme precipitation days: 4 (2023)

Demographics

• Total population (2020 census): 633,425

• Population estimate (2023): 618,639

• Population decrease: -2.6 percent

• Second-most populated city in Tennessee (after Nashville)

• Black or African American: 64.4 percent

• White: 26.5 percent 

• American Indian or Alaskan Native: .3 percent

• Asian: 1.6 percent

• Hispanic or Latino: 8 percent

• Median age: 33.9

• Over 65: 14.6 percent

• Under 18: 31.8 percent

• Ratio: 88 males for every 100 females

• Employment rate: 59.8 percent (2023)

• Total households: 257,188

• Average household size: 2.6 persons per household (2018-2022)

• Children in single-parent households: 43.5 percent (2018-2022)

• Only English spoken at home: 88.6 percent of households

• Language other than English spoken at home: 11.4 percent

• Foreign-born population Memphis: 8.3 percent

• Median household income Memphis: $51,399 (2023)

• Median family income Memphis: $61,977

• Poverty Memphis (2023): 22.6 percent

• Largest poverty age group Memphis: under 18 (36.3 percent)

Housing and Living

• Total housing units: 286,713

• Occupied housing units: 255,642

• Largest housing occupancy by type: married-family couple (45,875)

• Second-largest housing occupancy by type: female householder, no male present (18,726)

• Vacant housing units (2020): 31,071

• Moved from a different state to Memphis (2023): 2 percent 

• Moved within Shelby County (2023): 10.2 percent

• Median gross rent Memphis: $1,175

• Homeownership rate Memphis: 44.9 percent

• Largest home category by price: $200,000 to $299,000 (23.5 percent)

• Second-largest home category by price: $300,000 to $499,999 (17.55 percent)

• Average commute time in Memphis: 20.9 minutes

• Largest means of transportation: drive alone (77.8 percent)

• Second-largest means of transportation: car pool (9.2 percent)

• Commuters on public transportation: .8 percent  

• Households without a vehicle: 8.4 percent (2018-2022)

Health (all of Shelby County) 

• Quality of life ranking (out of 95 Tennessee counties): 87th (2023)

• Mortality ranking (early death): 69th (2023)

• Physical environment ranking (air, water, housing, commuting alone): 91st

• Social and economic ranking (education, employment, violent crime, children in poverty, more): 83rd

• Life expectancy: 72.5 years (2019-2021)

• All cancer incidence rate: 438.2 cases per 100,000 population (2017-2021)

• Death rate due to cancer: 162.1 per 100,000 population (2018-2022)

• Child mortality rate (under 20): 92.4 deaths per 100,000 population (2018-2021)

• Teens who are sexually active: 32.2 percent (2021) 

• Adults who binge drink: 15.7 percent (2022)

• Drug and opioid-involved overdose death rate: 32.4 per 100,000 population (2018-2020)

• Teens who use alcohol: 17.8 percent (2021)

• Teens who use marijuana: 18.9 percent (2021)

• Adults who have had a routine checkup: 79.8 percent (2022)

• Adults with health insurance: 83.7 percent (2023)

• Adults without health insurance: 10.8 percent (2022)

• Children with health insurance: 92.8 percent (2023)

• Children without health insurance: 7.2 percent (2023)

• People with private health insurance only: 50.6 percent (2023)

• Persons with public health insurance only: 26.7 percent (2023)

• Death rate due to heart disease: 209.2 per 100,000 population (2022)

• High blood pressure prevalence: 41.5 percent (2021)

• High cholesterol prevalence: 33.2 percent (2021)

• Adults ever diagnosed with depression: 25.2 percent (2022)

• Adults with any mental illness: 15.8 percent (2018-2020)

• Death rate due to suicide: 11.6 per 100,000 population (2018-2020)

• High school students who attempted suicide: 16.8 percent (2021)

• Adults (20+) who are sedentary: 22.6 percent (2021)

• High school students who engage in regular physical activity: 26.5 percent (2021)

• Death rate due to firearms: 33.6 per 100,000 population (2018-2020)

• HIV prevalence rate: 900.6 cases per 100,000 population (2022)

• Death rate due to HIV: 4.6 per 100,000 population (2018-2020)

• Adults who smoke: 19.3 percent (2022)

• High school students who smoke cigarettes: 3.0 percent (2021)

• Adults (20+) who are obese: 34.1 percent (2021)

• High school students who are overweight or obese: 42.2 percent (2021)

• Death rate due to homicide: 28.7 per 100,000 population (2018-2020)

• Domestic violence incidents per 1,000 population: 17.6 incidents per 1,000 population (2022)

• Alcohol-impaired driving deaths 18.2 percent of driving deaths (2017-2021)

• Bicyclist deaths: 2 (2023)

• Death rate due to motor vehicle collisions 19.5 per 100,000 population (2015-2021)

• Pedestrian deaths: 476 (2023)

• Substantiated child abuse rate: 3.4 cases per 1,000 children (2023)

• Child food insecurity rate: 27.4 percent (2022)

• Total food insecurity rate: 13.4 percent (2022)

• Households receiving SNAP with children: 51.0 percent (2018-2022)

• Households with cash public assistance income: 1.7 percent (2018-2022)

Education

• Memphis-Shelby County Schools graduation rate: 83.4 percent (2024)

• Memphis population high school graduates (2023 estimate): 31.2 percent 

• Bachelor’s degree or higher Memphis: 27.9 percent

• Enrolled in school (K-12) in Memphis: 72.4 percent

• University of Memphis is the largest post-secondary school (21,000 students)

• Also home to Rhodes College, Lemoyne-Owen College, Christian Brothers University, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, and Southwest Tennessee Community College

Business

• Largest industry employers: education, healthcare, and social assistance

• Second-largest industry employers: transportation, warehousing, and utilities

• Largest worker class: private company (68.6 percent)

• Second-largest worker class: local, state, or federal government (14.4 percent)

• Employer establishments: 19,659 (2022)

• Size of labor force: 431,038 (2024)

• Home to three Fortune 500 companies: FedEx Corp., AutoZone Inc., and International Paper Inc.

• Home to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital

Photo: Chengusf | Dreamstime.com

Economic Development Growth Engine(EDGE) stats since 2011

• Total jobs: 52,877

• Total capital investment: $11,691,419,735

• Number of PILOTs approved: 125

• Spending with local and minority companies: $804,417,653

• Average wage (PILOTs only): $83,251.28

• Average PILOT term: 11 years

• Local tax revenues generated: $1,956,924,055

• Total tax not charged to companies: $936,907,722

• Benefit-to-cost ratio: 2.09

• Incentive amount per job per year: $3,256.59

• Number of TIFS approved: 6

• Number of loans approved: 118

• Total loan amount: $15,924,841

• Number of bonds approved: 12

• Total bond amount: $569,737,850

Industry sectors

Food and Beverage industry

• Employed: 53,288 (2022)

• GDP: $4.9 billion

• Locations: 2,517

Manufacturing 

• Employed: 43,918 (2023)

• GDP: $11.7 billion

• Locations: 1,132

Agribusiness and AgTech

• Employed: 9,231 (2023)

• GDP: $2.6 billion

• Companies: 623

Automotive and Parts Suppliers 

• Employed: 18,735 (2023)

• GDP: $3.7 billion

• Operations: 1,119

Healthcare and Life Science

• Employed: 88,725 (2022)

• GDP: $10.4 billion

• Operations: 4,114

Headquarters and Finance

• Employed: 49,743 (2022)

• GDP: $12.4 billion 

• Companies: 5,111

Information and Technology

• Employed: 7,753 (2022)

• GDP: $2.4 billion 

• Companies: 1,318

Photo: F11photo | Dreamstime.com

Music and Entertainment

• Employed: 29,295 (2022)

• GDP: $2 billion

• Companies: 828

Supply Chain and Logistics

• Employed: 119,002 (2022)

• GDP: $18.9 billion 

• Companies: 3,602

Small Business and Entrepreneur

• Employed: 229,000 (2024)

• Payroll: $11 billion (2021)

• Businesses: 137,000

Port of Memphis

• Second-largest inland port on the Mississippi River 

• Total operations: 127 (2018)

• Employed: 22,465

• Taxes generated: $44.5 billion

• Economic impact: $9.2 billion

• Home to the only petroleum refinery in Tennessee

• Hub for all five Class I railways that serve Memphis: BN, CN, CSX, Norfolk Southern, and Union Pacific

Memphis International Airport (MEM)

• Passenger traffic: 4.8 million (2023)

• MEM facilitated 4,981 flights (Nov. 2024)

• 77 percent on time

• 65 airlines

• Top three international destinations: Windsor, Canada; La Romana, Dominican Republic; Kerry, Ireland

• 274 routes

• Busiest routes: Chicago, Houston, Dallas

• Top three airlines: NetJets, Delta Air Lines, Flexjet  

• Cargo operations: 8.56 billion pounds (2023) 

• Busiest cargo airport in North America (2023) 

• Second-busiest cargo airport worldwide (2023)​

Photo: Jeff Schultes | Dreamstime.com

FedEx Corp.

• Total revenue for fiscal year 2024: $87.7 billion

• FedEx Express: $74.7 billion (85 percent of total revenue).

• FedEx Freight: $9.4 billion (11 percent of total revenue).

• Other services like FedEx Office and FedEx Logistics: $3.6 billion (4 percent of total revenue)​

• Operates world’s largest cargo airline, covering over 650 airports globally

• Moves an average of over 14.5 million shipments daily

• Serves over 220 countries and territories

• Connects 99 percent of the world’s GDP​

• Global employees: ~500,000 (2023)

• Memphis employees: ~35,000 (2024) 

• Operating facilities: ~5,000 worldwide (2023)

Photo: Sean Pavone | Dreamstime.com

Tourism and Cultural Assets

• Visitors: 13.5 million (2023)

• Annual economic impact: $4.2 billion

• Employment: 44,000 (Shelby County)

• Companies: more than 2,300

• Hotel rooms: 26,000 rooms (Shelby County), 4,000 (Downtown)

• Beale Street visitors: 4 million annually

• Graceland visitors: more than 500,000 annually; second-most visited private residence in the U.S. after the White House

• Graceland’s economic impact: about $150 million annually for Memphis 

• The city’s name is mentioned in more than 1,000 song lyrics and titles, more than any other city in the world

• Home to more than 100 barbecue restaurants

• Home to more than 160 parks

• Memphis Zoo is home to about 3,500 animals representing more than 500 species

• Bass Pro Shops at the Pyramid is one of the largest retails spaces in the world; its 28-story elevator is the world’s largest freestanding elevator

Photo: Rolf52 | Dreamstime.com

Crime and Police

• Homicides: 280 (Dec. 3, 2024)

• Of those: 35 justifiable homicide, 230 murders, 15 negligent manslaughter

• Solved homicides: 148 (Dec. 3, 2024)

• Unsolved homicides: 132

• Homicide relationship to victim: unidentified (122), stranger (7), acquaintance (7), husband (1), family (1)

• Homicide by motive: unidentified (106), argument (9), robbery (8), gang related (5), drug related (2), threat of force (1)

• Homicide weapon type: firearm (124), knife (5), physical (2), drugs (1)

• Homicide gang affiliation: victim (24), suspect (0)

• Homicides by top ZIP codes: 38127 (33), 38118 (25), 38114 (24)

• ZIP codes with no homicides: 38002, 38016, 38113, 38120, 38135, 38138, 38152

• Homicides by top locations: on street (104), residences (83), businesses (32), gas stations (27) 

• Traffic tickets: 75,405 (fiscal 2024)

• Tickets by race: 53,864 (71.4 percent) Black, 11,186 (14.8 percent) white, 8,126 (10.7 percent) Hispanic  

• Unique offenders: 175,004 

• Unique offenders by sex: male (70,000), female (29,000)  

• Offenders released: 172,579

• Remained in custody: 2,099

• Top offenders by number of arrests: Brian Holmes (55), Deundra Milligan (45), Michael Jones (40)

• Full-time police officers per 1,000 residents: 3.16, 2022 (national average for cities with more than 250,000 people is 2.4 per 1,000)

City of Memphis budget

• Total revenue: $891.3 million (2025)

• Top revenue categories: local taxes ($600 million), state taxes ($79.2 million), licenses and permits ($27.8 million)

• Total expenses: $891.3 million

• Top expense categories: personnel ($640.8 million), materials and supplies ($176.6 million), grants and subsidies ($73.9 million)

• Expenses by top divisions: police services ($309.7 million), fire services ($246.7 million), grants and subsidies ($65 million)

• Top paid employees (2023): Cerelyn Davis, director of police services ($280,862); Gina Sweat, fire chief ($205,665); Donald Crowe, assistant chief of police services ($177,768); Jayne Chandler, administrative judge ($172,016)

Photo: Pierre Jean Durieu | Dreamstime.com

Sports

NBA team: Memphis Grizzlies

• Originally Vancouver Grizzlies (1995-2001)

• Relocated to Memphis: 2001

• First three seasons played at the Pyramid

• Home games: FedExForum since 2004

NCAA basketball: University of Memphis Tigers 

• Home games: FedExForum

Minor League Baseball: Memphis Redbirds

• Major League Baseball affiliate: St. Louis Cardinals 

• Home games: AutoZone Park since 2000

NCAA football: University of Memphis Tigers 

• Home games: Simmons Bank Liberty Bowl 

• Biggest crowd: 65,885, versus University of Tennessee in 1996 

Sources: United States Census Bureau, Memphis-Shelby County Schools, Memphis-Shelby County Economic Development Growth Engine, Greater Memphis Chamber, Shelby County Health Department, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, Port of Memphis, Memphis International Airport, FedEx Corp., Memphis Tourism, Graceland, Downtown Memphis Commission, Memphis Rock ‘n’ Soul Museum, Memphis Zoo, Bass Pro Shops at the Pyramid, Memphis Police Department, City of Memphis, OpenPayroll, Shelby County Sheriff’s Office, Wikipedia (fact-checked), University of Memphis, Memphis Grizzlies, Memphis Redbirds, Bureau of Labor Statistics, The Commercial Appeal, National Endowment for the Humanities, Encyclopedia Britannica, Sun Studio, National Civil Rights Museum

Categories
Memphis Gaydar News

Report Scores Memphis Businesses on LGBTQ Equality

Credit: Memphis Pride Fest

Memphis Pride Fest

The Human Rights Campaign’s (HRC) annual Corporate Equality Index included four of Memphis’ biggest companies and a law firm. Two of the corporations scored towards the top, with one scoring in the middle and another toward the bottom.

The HRC claims it is “the nation’s largest LGBTQ civil rights organization.” Its report reviewed 1,059 companies and law firms this year. That included 25 Tennessee-based businesses. In Memphis, five companies were deemed large enough for review by the Human Rights Campaign.

Of those here, the law firm of Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz PC scored the highest with 90 out of 100 points possible. FedEx Corp. scored high, too, with an overall equality score of 85. First Horizon National Corp. also scored near the top with 75 total points.

AutoZone Inc. scored near the middle with 40 total points. International Paper had the lowest Memphis score on the report with 30 total points.

All of these points were awarded to companies based on four broad criteria:

• Non-discrimination policies

• Employment benefits

• Supporting an inclusive culture and corporate social responsibility including public commitment to LGBTQ equality

• Responsible citizenship

”These companies know that protecting their LGBTQ employees and customers from discrimination is not just the right thing to do — it is also the best business decision,” HRC president Alphonso David said in a statement. “In addition, many of these leaders are also advocating for the LGBTQ community and equality under the law in the public square.”
[pullquote-1] HRC began its report in 2002, done largely through a survey of Fortune magazine’s 500 largest publicly traded businesses, American Lawyer magazine’s top 200 revenue-grossing law firms and hundreds of publicly and privately held mid- to large-sized businesses.

In its first year, HRC named 13 top-rated companies. This year, the group named 686 such businesses that had a perfect 100 score ”under the most stringent criteria to date.”

This year, 13 to the Fortune 500’s top 20 companies earned perfect HRC scores.

Human Rights Campaign

Here are some more insights gleaned in this year’s Corporate Equality Index (CEI):

• The more than 680 companies that earned a 100 on the CEI represent 12.4 million employees nationally, 11.9 million globally, and earn a combined estimate of $12.9 trillion in revenue.

• Eighty-three companies participated in the CEI for the first time in 2020, with 36 debuting at a score of 100, including Etsy Inc., Peloton Interactive Inc., Stop & Shop, and Warner Music Group.

• Of all Fortune 500 companies, 93 percent have sexual orientation in their U.S. non-discrimination policy, and 91 percent have gender identity.

• The average CEI score for all Fortune 500 companies increased from 67 to 71 in the past year — with actively participating Fortune 500 companies having an average score of 90, up from 88 last year.

• Tennessee companies averaged a score of 70 in this year’s CEI.

• This year 89 percent of companies participating in the CEI offer at least one health-care policy that is inclusive of their transgender workers.

Read the full report here:
[pdf-1]

Categories
Memphis Gaydar News

Memphis Law Firm Gets Perfect Score in Equality Index, AutoZone Scores Low

A Memphis law firm, FedEx, and First Horizon scored well in this year’s Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Corporate Equality Index, while International Paper and AutoZone fell toward the bottom of the list.

Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz PC scored a perfect 100, making it one of only two major corporations and/or law firms in Tennessee with a perfect score. The other was Nissan North America Inc. in Franklin.

That means the company prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity, has vendor/contractor standards that don’t discriminate based on sexual orientation or gender identity, offers partner health insurance, has other “soft” benefits for partners, offers transgender-inclusive health coverage, has organizational competency programs, has a firm-wide diversity council or LGBT employee group, and positively engages the external LGBT community.

FedEx scored high with an 85 percent. The main thing that kept FedEx from scoring higher was its lack of transgender-inclusive healthcare coverage. First Horizon Corp. also scored an 85 percent. 

International Paper scored a 25 percent, and AutoZone scored a 10 percent. The only LGBT-friendly policy at AutoZone is one prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation.

In total, 851 companies across the country were officially rated in the 2016 index, up from 781 in the 2015 report. The average score for companies and law firms based in Tennessee is 69 percent. Of the 12 Tennessee companies ranked, two earned 100 percent, and four earned 80 percent or above.

“Corporate America has long been a leader on LGBT equality, from advocating for marriage equality to expanding essential benefits to transgender employees,” said HRC President Chad Griffin. “But this year, many leading U.S. companies have broken new ground by expanding explicit non-discrimination protections to their LGBT workers around the globe. They’ve shown the world that LGBT equality isn’t an issue that stops at our own borders, but extends internationally.”

To see the full index, go here.

Categories
Memphis Gaydar News

FedEx Scores High, AutoZone Scores Low on Equality Index

The Human Rights Campaign’s 2015 Corporate Equality Index (CEI) assessed LGBT inclusion in a number of major companies and law firms in Memphis. 

The CEI ranks companies on a scale of 1 (worst) to 100 (best) based on non-discrimination policies, employment benefits, demonstrated organizational competency and accountability around LGBT diversity and inclusion, public commitment to LGBT equality, and responsible citizenship.

Memphis-based FedEx Corp. and local law firm Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz tied with for high scores of 85, while AutoZone Corp. received a low score of 15.

FedEx’s non-discrimination policy covers sexual orientation and gender identity. They offer domestic partner benefits, and their insurance covers transgender health benefits, such as hormone therapy and short-term leave after surgical procedures. They have an LGBT employee group, and they actively market to LGBT consumers.

AutoZone does have a non-discrimination policy regarding sexual orientation, but gender identity is not covered. The company also fails to offer domestic partner benefits, and it lacks an LGBT employee group.

Other Memphis companies on the list scored as follows: First Horizon National Corp. (75), Unum Group (60), and International Paper (45).

Nationally, a record 366 businesses scored perfect 100s. The only Tennessee company to score a 100 was Nissan North America, Inc. in Smyrna. 

“When it comes to LGBT equality, Corporate America is a leader, not a follower,” said HRC President Chad Griffin. “At every turn, from advocating for marriage equality to providing vital support for transgender employees, this country’s leading companies have asked, ‘what more can we do?,’ and they’ve worked tirelessly to achieve new progress. That kind of leadership changes countless lives around this country, and sets an important example to other companies around the globe.”

            

Categories
Editorial Opinion

Pride in St. Jude

Back in the heyday of Plough, Inc., there used to be giant billboards all over Memphis advertising one of the locally based corporation’s most well-known products. “St. Joseph’s Aspirin,” the signs would proudly proclaim. “Memphis Makes. The World Takes.”

And yes, those billboards and that message did generate a fair amount of pride of place among us locals, even though we knew that St. Joseph, as a brand, would never overtake the industry monolith, Bayer. And, indeed, it never has, though it continues to exist, after a change in geography and ownership, as a low-dose brand, well-advertised online.

In any case, it was something we locals could boast about, in the same way that we once boasted about Holiday Inn, the giant hotel chain that was founded in Memphis and for many, many years run from here. Ditto with AutoZone, which continues to be headquartered in its birthplace, in a handsome downtown building overlooking the mighty Mississippi.

And there is FedEx, yet another Memphis creation that connects the whole wide world with the cargo shipments that come and go from the company’s massive footprint here.

International Paper, another widely known mega-corporation, was born elsewhere and is a transplant to Memphis, but it is nevertheless a major player on our cityscape. And, we’d be remiss not to mention Graceland, home of the the most iconic entertainer ever, and either the first- or second-most visited residence in America, depending on which survey you read.

This list could go on for a while. But there is one other treasure known to those of us who live here and who admire its service to the world: St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, which is as famous as Sloan-Kettering Hospital in New York and John Hopkins in Baltimore and the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, and may be doing more valuable therapeutic and research work than any or all of those other institutions.

The difference, which we keep discovering every time we ask about it, is that those who direct the marketing affairs of St. Jude have decided it is never to be mentioned or promoted in tandem with Memphis, its host city. And it never is. According to James R. Downing, president and CEO of St. Jude, there are no plans that it ever will be, despite the fact that, as Downing told the Rotary Club of Memphis on Tuesday, the hospital plans a major expansion — one that will connect to affiliates elsewhere but will still have the same headquarters-to-network relationship to them as FedEx Memphis has to its ports and bases elsewhere. For this and the other great benefits St. Jude brings to our fair city, we are most grateful.

But still, it stings a bit that the world-renowned hospital’s hometown never gets a mention in its marketing campaigns. Downing did his best to explain: The hospital is meant to be regarded everyplace at once. It’s a marketing strategy that helps with donors. That may make sense to the marketing department, but not necessarily to Memphians, who understandably swell with pride knowing that St. Jude, as founder Danny Thomas ordained, does its remarkable work here.

We are somewhat comforted by a remark made about the research function of St. Jude by the legendary surgeon Dr. Michael DeBakey: “To cure one child in Memphis is to cure a thousand children worldwide.” As a marketing slogan, it has a certain ring, we think.

Categories
Opinion

International Paper + Shelby Forest = A Match

Hardwood_forest.jpg

What’s a big corporation worth to Memphis?

International Paper is the least known of the three Fortune 500 companies headquartered in Memphis.

This is partly because IP is a relative newcomer (1986) that was founded somewhere else (Manhattan) and partly because IP chooses to keep a relatively low profile. FedEx is FedEx Forum and founder Fred Smith, AutoZone is AutoZone Park and founder Pitt Hyde, IP is some nice office buildings on Poplar Avenue and CEO John Faraci.

IP is in the news this week for seeking tax breaks to expand its local headquarters and prevent it from moving to Mississippi — a doubtful proposition at a glance, but who knows? Let the threats, the outrage at corporate welfare, the economic impact studies, and the cost-benefit analysis begin.

One thing IP should do is “adopt” Meeman Shelby Forest State Park or Overton Park or both of them. This should have been done a long time ago but it’s not too late. By adopt, I don’t mean ask for naming rights or permission to clear cut or manage a swath of forest. I mean become a corporate angel, and associate its name and give-back with a good cause and a place that could use some funds. This would benefit the company and the community.

Earlier this year I interviewed Faraci for a story in one of our sister publications, MBQ magazine. He was quick to accept the invitation, accomodating, and candid with his answers. One thing I asked him was to name his and IP’s signature local cause. He said the National Civil Rights Museum. That puzzled me. I don’t know the extent of IP’s support, but IP, unlike Hyde and AutoZone, had nothing to do with the founding of the museum and is one of dozens of partners that include individuals, celebrities, corporations, Major League Baseball, and the NBA. I sometimes wonder who is helping whom. In any case, IP is lost in the crowd and brings no special expertise or story to the table.

What IP knows is trees and forest management. At the end of our interview, Faraci, who joined IP in 1974, gave me a nice coffee-table book called “A Permanent Island: The Conservation Legacy of International Paper.” It is full of lovely color pictures of 27 of the forest holdings IP sold to various conservators, including Cumberland Forest and Dry Branch in Tennessee.

I suggested to an IP spokesman that the company do something with Meeman Shelby Forest, and he in turn suggested I write a letter to Faraci, which I did. That was the end of that, which was fine. Access and straight answers pretty much cover a CEO’s obligations to the local media. But with IP in the news now, seeking a handout in the eyes of many people, I’ll float the idea again.

Public parks need private dollars, as Overton Park and Shelby Farms have shown. To my eye, Overton Park is in pretty good hands with the Overton Park Conservancy. I’m sure it would welcome more partners, but Meeman Shelby Forest seems to me a better match for IP. Named for Memphis newspaperman and conservationist Edward Meeman, the park’s 13,467 acres in northwest Shelby County include bottomland hardwood forests, two lakes, trails and roads, ball fields, a boat ramp, disc golf, cabins, and a swimming pool. Some of it is public hunting grounds. One winter, I could have survived on the ducks, deer, and squirrels my son killed up there. The park is also a favorite destination of cyclists and a future link to the Harahan Bridge bike and pedestrian crossing and potential Mississippi River bike trail.

Calling out corporations and wealthy individuals on their community involvement and philanthropy can be crass and it’s tricky. Frauds and egomaniacs like Allen Stanford can throw other people’s money around and make a big splash with sponsorships and donations that don’t last while anonymous benefactors give away millions. FedEx, the Smiths, AutoZone and the Hydes get the balance of corporate marketing and personal modesty right and set the bar high. So do others, but to try to name them would be to leave someone out or overstate someone’s influence.

IP, however, has now asked for greater scrutiny. It’s just business. Everything is part of the picture, from the reported 2,300 employees to the capital investments to the requested 30-year tax break on new construction, to as-yet unspecified competing offers in other states to Faraci’s $12,935,541 compensation. IP is not the company that moved its operations (but not its corporate headquarters) to Memphis 26 years ago when mayors Dick Hackett and Bill Morris courted IP and CEO (later U.S. Treasury Secretary) Paul O’Neill. It has sold forest holdings, acquired competitors, adjusted to businesses that don’t use as much paper, and on any given day is probably more interested in what goes on in the hinterlands of India and Russia than Memphis.

But let’s assume its corporate leadership is as community-spirited as the next person, that employees’ families have been raised in Greater Memphis, ties have been established, and that Tennessee with no personal state income tax offers some advantages over Mississippi, financial and otherwise. IP could improve its image and its community ties with a signature pet project. Meeman Shelby Forest would be a match.

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Opinion

Weekend Report: Egypt, International Paper, FedEx, and Susan Komen

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Best line of the week: “Burger King,” by developer Henry Turley to the ambulance crew member who asked which hospital he wanted to be taken to after he passed out while chairing a board meeting for Sun Trust Bank this week. He blamed his fall on cold medications and a lack of breakfast and declined an overnight stay in the hospital. He is doing fine.

The CEOs of two of our biggest companies were in the news Thursday. On CNBC, FedEx CEO Fred Smith said the U.S. economy is growing but not at a rate high enough to absorb the increase in population. He recommended that the government enhance capital investment, keep exploring fuel sources not dependent on Middle Eastern nations, and change the tax code provisions that penalize profits made abroad. Smith said 43 percent of FedEx world management team is minorities and women. And he said the Post Office “is run by a very competent man who was in Memphis last week to talk to our managers.” That would be Patrick Donahoe.

An hour later, International Paper CEO John Faraci was on a web conference for IP’s fourth-quarter and annual financial report. He said IP had its “best financial results in almost two decades.” The company, which has some 2,400 employees in the Memphis area, transformed itself in 2010, selling its land portfolio, cutting costs, and preparing the way for $1.5 billion in capital investments in 2012. I interviewed Faraci later that day for an upcoming story in our MBQ magazine. Things I didn’t know until this week: IP’s North American mills get 73 percent of their energy from renewable sources and IP is the recycler of 12 percent of all paper that is recycled.

Egypt has raised the standard for violence at sporting events with a riot that killed 74 people. My friend Mohamad Elmeliegy, who came to Memphis from Cairo, told me he was saddened but not surprised by the bad news. In a column in September he said Egypt is new to democracy and “has been governed by the military since the pharaohs.”

Don’t put your sponsors in the position of having to talk about abortion. That’s the lesson of the Susan G. Komen for the Cure turnabout this week, according to a colleague in our marketing department who is familiar with the Memphis Race for the Cure in Germantown every year. Komen had said earlier this week it would cease to fund grants for breast cancer screening to Planned Parenthood under new rules to tighten eligibility. “We want to apologize to the American public for recent decisions that cast doubt upon our commitment to our mission of saving women’s lives,” Komen said in a statement on Friday signed by its board of directors and its founder Nancy Brinker.